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A cohort of affordable homeownership projects is emerging in Portland, Milwaukie and Gresham, funded by Metro’s affordable housing bond, that aims to give lower-income residents and people of color a starting rung on the homeownership ladder.

The program is spread among six separate projects totaling 158 units. Metro has committed to date $19 million, or less than 3 percent of the $652.8 million housing bond voters approved in 2018, to homeownership projects.

Nevertheless, it represents an effort by public officials and private developers to expand affordable housing beyond the rental market.

鈥淭his particular type of investment is really critical to addressing our region’s housing crisis,鈥� said Patricia Rojas, regional housing director for Metro. 鈥淗omeownership is a pillar of the American dream, and it’s a tool that people have been able to use for economic mobility and for building generational wealth.鈥�

The projects are beginning to make their way through permitting processes and into construction. Community Development Partners has submitted an early assistance request to build eight townhomes at the intersection of Northeast Alberta Street and Mallory Avenue in Portland.

The project across the street from the developer’s offices in Alberta Abbey is CDP’s first venture into the tricky world of affordable homeownership. Developers say financing affordable homeownership projects generally is more difficult, with fewer funders and more complications.

鈥淗omeownership is harder to pull together compared to rental housing,鈥� said Sarah Schubert, Northwest development director for CDP. 鈥淭here’s fewer sources out there. There’s a lot of legal structuring.鈥�

The projects use a variety of funding mechanisms, including Metro bonds; funds from the state Local Innovation and Fast Track Homeownership Program, or LIFT, administered by Oregon Housing and Community Services; local system development charge waivers; and construction loans.

CDP plans to make the three-story Alberta townhomes available to homebuyers at 65 percent of the area median income. Prices are expected to be around $275,000, but that is subject to change according to federal income rules.

鈥淲e’re pretty excited about this project, even though it’s small,鈥� Schubert said. 鈥淚t’ll be a learning experience and helpfully we can replicate it in other areas. We think it’s an important project for the community.鈥�

Scott Edwards Architecture is designing the Alberta Alive townhomes project, which is being co-developed by Self-Enhancement Inc.; no general contractor has been selected.

CDP owns the property, which is currently used as a small surface parking lot. It’s part of a portfolio of socially minded housing projects from CDP and SEI called Alberta Alive that also includes rentals. Some of the projects are on land donated to the Portland Housing Bureau by the Strong family, a prominent Black family in the Alberta neighborhood.

The project originally envisioned rental and homeownership properties on the same lot. But CDP found it made sense to split the projects, which have separate funding mechanisms.

鈥淭he homeownership and rental combined didn’t pencil out,鈥� Schubert said.

CDP is interested in building more homeownership projects, the developers said.

鈥淭his is a competitive edge we should have over our peers,鈥� said Thomas Eldridge, a CDP development manager who is working on the townhomes project.

Local government housing agencies are increasingly asking for a homeownership component in their requests for proposals, Eldridge said. CDP is eyeing another opportunity in McMinnville that calls for a homeownership component, he said.

The Alberta lot has room for up to 20 units, but local residents made clear that they wanted a less-dense housing project, CDP officials said.

The townhomes will be awarded according to the city of Portland’s North/Northeast Housing Strategy Preference Policy, which weighs the applicant’s historic ties to the neighborhood and the effects of urban renewal and displacement.

鈥淭his is a project that’s in North-Northeast Portland, that’s in an area that had a thriving Black community that’s been gentrified,鈥� Schubert said. 鈥淚t’s pretty significant to be able to provide homeownership opportunities.鈥�

Metro is also looking to boost homeownership by historically marginalized groups that were kept from owning homes by redlining and other barriers.

鈥淭hat historic practice has had lasting impacts,鈥� Rojas said. 鈥淚t’s important that we try to reconcile that.鈥�

Metro has awarded funding to projects in jurisdictions that have reached certain affordable housing goals, officials with the regional government said.

The projects use a community land trust model. That places limits on how much appreciation homeowners can realize, providing some protection against a new owner reselling the property for fair-market value.

鈥淭hey can’t just flip it like a market property,鈥� said Jimmy Oporta, housing coordinator for Metro. 鈥淚t is intended to maintain its affordability and pass it on to the next homeowner, or maybe even to the next generation of people within that same family.鈥�

The other projects are:

• Carey Boulevard, 53 townhomes from Habitat for Humanity in the University Park neighborhood. Just over half the homes will be for owners at or below 60 percent area median income, and the rest will be pegged to between 61 percent and 80 percent AMI.
• Shortstack Milwaukie is focused on 鈥渕issing middle鈥� housing, including duplexes, triplexes and cottage courts. The 15-unit project in Milwaukie’s Ardenwald neighborhood will use mass timber to construct two-story homes.
• In Gresham, West Coast Homes and Habitat for Humanity are building 11 two-bedroom townhomes at a mix of income levels. The project is in the Rockwood town center area.
• Twenty affordable homes at Myrtlewood Way, formerly known as Glisan Townhomes, at 17640 N.E. Glisan St. The units range in size, including 13 three-bedroom homes of 1,237 square feet; 5 four-bedrooms of 1,550 square feet; and 2 five-bedroom units of 1,655 square feet.
• In the Hillsdale neighborhood, Gooseberry Trails will have 52 units from Habitat for Humanity ranging from two to five bedrooms. The 5-acre development will feature shared green space, a playground and potentially a community garden. Construction began in July.