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The Portland City Council on Wednesday passed three ordinances approving $17.45 million in spending to help pay for around 200 new affordable housing units in the city. The funding, mostly via tax increment financing (TIF) from two different urban renewal areas, will go toward land acquisition for future development and provide construction financing for two new projects.

The council approved a $6.8 million purchase of six parcels totaling 0.97 acres at the southwest corner of North Williams Avenue and Alberta Street for the creation of affordable housing. The Portland Housing Bureau will acquire the properties using TIF dollars from the Interstate Corridor Urban Renewal Area.

Development concepts have not been created for the property, but the Housing Bureau estimates it could accommodate between 100 and 150 new permanently affordable housing units. The land is being held for future development, which will be shaped by a community input process and could include either affordable rental housing or for-sale condominiums.

The acquisition aligns with the land banking goal set forth as part of the North/Northeast Neighborhood Housing Strategy, which the council adopted in 2015 to address the impacts of the city’s role in the gentrification of traditionally African-American neighborhoods and displacement of longtime residents.

The land is owned by members of the Strong family, longtime neighborhood residents who have been in active discussions with the Housing Bureau for nearly four years to ensure the property remains a community asset.

鈥淲e didn’t want to put the property in the hands of developers who have no heart or no kind of concern 鈥� for some of the longtime inhabitants of our community,鈥� family member Mark Strong told the council. 鈥淥ver the last several years the change in North and Northeast Portland has been kind of disheartening to watch. The fingerprints of the African-American community being etched away has just been very, very painful.鈥�

In accordance with the housing strategy, preference for tenancy or ownership at the future development will be given to current and former longtime residents of North and Northeast Portland, and those who have been displaced by prior urban renewal practices in the Interstate Corridor area.

Commissioner Jo Ann Hardesty praised the Strong family for working with the city to ensure the site remains an asset to the community.

鈥淚n this time where land is being grabbed up all over the city of Portland, you could have chosen a different route,鈥� she said. 鈥淚’m not a real estate person, but I suspect you could have also gotten more money if the goal was just about money.鈥�

Echoing Hardesty’s statement, Commissioner Chloe Eudaly added, 鈥淚 want to note how vital it is that we move as much property out of the private market as we can and turn it into permanently affordable housing. I think it’s the only way forward to preserving any kind of racial or economic diversity in the city.鈥�

The council also approved an ordinance to provide up to $3.3 million of construction funding, using Interstate Corridor Urban Renewal Area TIF money, for a new 30-unit affordable condominium development in the Kenton neighborhood. The city funding leverages more than $7 million of additional financing from other sources, including donations and a loan from First Republic Bank.

The Kilpatrick townhouses are being constructed by Habitat for Humanity Portland/Metro East at the southeast corner of North Interstate Avenue and Kilpatrick Street. Foundation work is under way on the project’s first phase, which consists of a three-story, 12-unit building with single-level condominiums on the ground floor and two-level townhomes on the upper floors. A second phase will add another 18-unit building.

The project will ultimately contain 15 two-bedroom units and 15 three-bedroom units housing an estimated 113 residents. Homebuyers will be identified through the North/Northeast Neighborhood Housing Strategy’s preference policy. According to Dr. Steven Holt, a member of the housing strategy’s oversight committee, the policy is vital to providing ownership equity to the black community.

鈥淗omeownership for African Americans in the city of Portland is now equaling 1965 numbers; we’ve gone backwards,鈥� he told the council. 鈥淪o opportunities like this cannot be overemphasized.鈥�

A third ordinance will provide up to $7.35 million in construction financing for Halsey 106, a mixed-use building in the Gateway area being developed by Gerding Edlen and Human Solutions. The building will include 75 apartment units, including 52 affordable ones, as well as affordable retail space and office space for Human Solutions.

LMC Construction is expected to begin work in September on the Holst Architecture-designed project. Construction funding includes $6,602,738 in Gateway Urban Renewal Area TIF money and $747,262 in Community Housing Development Organization money.

All three ordinances passed via 4-0 votes, with Commissioner Amanda Fritz absent.