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Thanks to a new focus of the Portland Housing Bureau, some Northeast Portland residents may be able to stay in the area they’ve always called home.

Karl Dinkelspiel, senior program manager with the PHB, said a new 81-unit affordable housing complex is planned for city-owned land on the east side of Northeast Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard between Cook and Ivy streets. Preference will be given to prospective tenants who live in the historically African-American neighborhood or have family ties to it, he said.

The city has allocated $8 million for the new building, called Grant Warehouse, according to Dinkelspiel. Portland Community Reinvestment Initiatives Inc., a nonprofit, is the project’s developer, and Carleton Hart Architecture is the designer.

鈥淭he city has put affordable housing as a priority for 2016 and, particularly, Northeast Portland has been identified as a priority area,鈥� Dinkelspiel said.

Construction of Grant Warehouse will help mitigate effects of gentrification, PCRI Executive Director Maxine Fitzpatrick said.

鈥淲e saw how many people are being displaced on a daily basis and (a PCRI study) showed that over 10,000 (are) displaced,鈥� she said. 鈥淭hat’s three people every day, and they have to find someplace to live. 鈥� I think mitigating the displacement is recognition that something went wrong in the process, and I appreciate what the housing bureau and city are doing to mitigate it.鈥�

Last year the city held a series of four forums: three in Northeast Portland and one in Gresham, where many displaced people have moved. At the latter meeting, more than 400 people expressed their opinions about how the property should be developed. The results were decisive.

鈥淭here was a big outcry around, 鈥楬ey, we need more affordable housing,’ 鈥� Dinkelspiel said. 鈥淟ots of political pressure was put on the (Portland Development Commission) and city government, and at the time Mayor (Charlie) Hales said we need to address (the issue) by taking $20 million out of PDC’s budget and putting it in the housing bureau’s.鈥�

The effect of that budget shift last year kick-started the PHB’s current affordable housing efforts, he said. They began with the community outreach meetings and other public input collection, and ended with the city’s adoption of the . The strategy was adopted by the city council in January 2015 鈥渢o address displacement and gentrification in North and Northeast Portland,鈥� according to the PHB’s website.

鈥淭he Grant Warehouse was the first multifamily rental project that comes out of that strategy,鈥� Dinkelspiel said. 鈥淲hat it says is that we will give a preference to people who have certain geographic ties to an area that we define.鈥�

Giving preference to a certain demographic of renters is common practice, PHB spokeswoman Martha Calhoon said.

鈥�(Rental) preference policies are nothing new and 鈥� practiced all over the country for various groups,鈥� she said. 鈥淚t’s a tool that’s used. In New York City there are preference policies for teachers and artists. Ours are to address past city actions on very specific geographic areas of the city.鈥�

The end result, the city hopes, is a form of reverse gentrification, Dinkelspiel said.

鈥淔or people that lived in the neighborhood 鈥� or still live there 鈥� the idea is that they or their ancestors who have lived in this defined geographic area would get priority for any unit that we create,鈥� he said. 鈥淭he idea is to bring people back, hopefully that want to come back, and to keep people from leaving who are being threatened by obviously increasing real estate prices.鈥�

The executive summary of the North/Northeast Neighborhood Housing Strategy, at , details the history of the neighborhood. The document notes that within the past decade, the percentage of African-Americans in Northeast Portland fell by more than half.

According to the summary, the $20 million referenced by Dinkelspiel was dedicated by the city in 2014; the dollars were tax increment financing generated by the Interstate Corridor Urban Renewal Area. The money is intended for 鈥渁ffordable housing in an effort to begin to address the ongoing threat of displacement and gentrification.鈥�

The $20 million will be dedicated to four areas: displacement prevention, new homeowner creation, rental home creation and land acquisition.

To encourage even more multifamily development backed by city dollars, the PHB just issued a record-setting notice of funding available (NOFA) to area developers, Calhoon said.

鈥淚t’s our biggest NOFA to date,鈥� she said. 鈥淚t’s the most we ever put out for affordable housing 鈥� $61.6 million.鈥�

Responses have varied, Dinkelspiel said.

鈥淭hey’re all over the map, from 40 units on a 10,000-square-foot site to an already-owned building they need to rehab,鈥� he said.

Dinkelspiel said he expects the NOFA to benefit 15 to 20 projects, which is a huge jump from the usual three to six projects per year.

鈥淭his will be double, triple, maybe even quadruple what we would typically put out in a year,鈥� he said. 鈥淢e and my staff will be incredibly busy.鈥�

Developments that come out of the NOFA proposals will require two to three years to become ready for occupancy, Dinkelspiel said. All of them, including Grant Warehouse, he said, will remain affordable for the next 60 years. His department’s management team will ensure that.

鈥淭hat’s their job, to enforce those regulatory requirements,鈥� he said. 鈥淭he most important one is that units have to stay at whatever income level we designate for the entire 60 years of the agreement. That’s the biggest piece of it.鈥�

North / Northeast Portland Neighborhood Housing Strategy

The Portland Housing Bureau lists on its website how approximately $20 million in tax increment financing will be spent to create more affordable housing for low-income residents. Here is an abbreviated summary:

Preventing displacement

鈥� Provide zero percent interest loans of up to $40,000 per home for repairs to serve low-income homeowners.

Time frame: start immediately, with annual allocation for five years

Households assisted: 80

Cost over five years: $3.2 million

鈥� Provide grants of up to $5,000 per home for repairs to serve seniors and people with disabilities.

Time frame: start immediately, with annual allocation for five years

Households assisted: 160

Cost over five years: $800,000

Creating new homeowners

鈥� Increase PHB funding for the Down Payment Assistance Loan program to serve first-time, low-income homebuyers

Time frame: start immediately, with full deployment anticipated in three years

Households assisted: 40

Cost over five years: $2.4 million

鈥� Create permanent affordability and new affordable housing stock in the community, investing in community-based organizations to leverage (including land trust, sweat equity and other models) their expertise and additional dollars

Households assisted: 32

Cost over five years: $2.6 million

Creating rental homes

鈥� Redevelop PHB-owned land on Northeast Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard between Cook and Ivy streets to hold affordable housing; emphasize family-sized units and family-friendly features; work with PDC and others to identify ground-floor commercial opportunities for local businesses.

Time frame: start immediately

Homes created: 40-80 units

Cost over five years: $4.5 million plus land

鈥� Redevelop one or more additional properties owned by PHB, the county or other partners.

Time frame: start in 2017

Homes created: 30-60 units

Cost over five years: $3.5 million

Land acquisition

鈥� Acquire additional land to be used for permanently affordable housing; work with the community and other institutions to leverage additional dollars for this purpose.

Time frame: start immediately

Cost over five years: $3 million