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The Portland City Council voted Wednesday to authorize the purchase of a property in the Cully neighborhood for future development of affordable housing. It will be the latest acquisition made with money from a $258.4 million voter-approved affordable housing bond; the city aims to use those dollars to acquire or create 1,300 units of affordable housing by 2022.

Councilors voted 4-0, with Commissioner Amanda Fritz absent, to authorize the Portland Housing Bureau to acquire the property at 5827 N.E. Prescott St. for $500,000, with closing and pre-acquisition costs not to exceed $58,000. A single-family home currently occupies the site, which measures 19,000 square feet and is zoned Commercial Mixed-Use (CM2h).

The property was identified as ideal for affordable housing for several reasons, including its proximity to multiple transit lines and a full-service grocery store. According to Housing Bureau interim director Shannon Callahan, the Cully neighborhood was targeted specifically.

鈥淲e are prioritizing communities of color, families and households facing homelessness or displacement,鈥� Callahan testified before the City Council. 鈥淲e are particularly excited about the opportunity to purchase this property in the Cully neighborhood 鈥� an area of rich diversity and a strong sense of community, and unfortunately also with a high risk of gentrification.鈥�

The Housing Bureau plans to build a multifamily building with 50 to 75 units, but the scope of the project won’t be finalized until the bureau works with the bond’s oversight committee and the Cully community. The bureau and Home Forward will begin planning for programming and services by the end of this year, which will inform future development goals. For now, the existing house on the site will remain in place and be leased out until a development plan is in place.

The acquisition is the fourth made by the city via the affordable housing bond, and the second made for the purpose of new development. The city last year purchased a former strip club site at Southeast 30th Avenue and Powell Boulevard for $3.72 million for a new affordable housing development. That project is currently in the design phase; construction is set to begin next year.

In addition, the city in 2017 purchased the Ellington Apartments, a 263-unit multifamily property in Northeast Portland, for $47 million, and last month announced the purchase of a newly-completed 51-unit building at 10506 E. Burnside St. for $14.3 million.