Junior McDonald trained to become an electrician at Portland Community College and was working as one when he discovered a broader interest in construction. “Owning my own home really inspired me to learn more about construction as I had to work on several projects around my house,” he said.

He started Black Dreams Construction in 2022 and provides general contracting, home additions, electrical, plumbing, roofing and landscaping services. McDonald partners with other contractors to support him on projects when he cannot complete them himself.

“I started my own company because I wanted to control my own schedule and have a way of helping others improve and maintain their homes,” he said.

Black Dreams Construction partners with local organizations such as PCRI and the Portland Housing Bureau to develop projects that benefit seniors and low-income homeowners. The company also supports workforce development by providing opportunities for young adults entering the industry.

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When Maxine Fitzpatrick moved to the Rose City to lead Portland Community Reinvestment Initiatives Inc. (PCRI), her plan was to do as much as she could to improve the city’s affordable housing stock and then leave in about five years. Now, nearly 25 years later, Fitzpatrick is still finding plenty to do.

“I really didn’t come to Portland to stay this long,” she said, “but when I got here the problem was so intense, widespread and historical. Somehow those five years turned into twenty-four.”

Fitzpatrick’s background in real estate, and affordable housing in particular, began in Michigan. She took a break during college to get married and start a family. When she and her husband divorced, she had three young children to take care of. She went back to college and got a summer job with a real state office.

“I just fell in love with real estate and development, so I started selling real estate,” Fitzpatrick said, adding that she then went to work for an agency similar to Portland’s Home Forward. It was during the Reagan administration that officials through a national demonstration program invited people to submit proposals for how they would create affordable housing. Fitzpatrick’s proposal was one of 20 across the country to be accepted for implementation.

Her career later carried her to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where she became director of a program that was underperforming in affordable housing production. She set a goal of 20 homes a year and laid out a plan for how to achieve that goal.

“I was an African-American female in a department with three white males, and they quit because they didn’t want to work with me as the manager,” she said.

Fitzpatrick hired a new staff and they went from building 10 homes a year to 60. She learned how to work with private developers to sell some high-end units, generating profit that could help pay for the lower-income housing.

Her goal for Portland is 1,000 units over 10 years through an initiative called Pathway 1000. Launched in 2015, the initiative places a priority on residents who were involuntarily displaced or at risk of displacement from North and inner Northeast Portland. The initiative originally called for 800 rental units and 200 units available for ownership. However, Fitzpatrick realized that switching the ratio would be more beneficial.

“If we do 800 rentals, we’re perpetuating people living in poverty,” she said. “If we do 800 homeownerships, we’re creating an opportunity for them to lift themselves out of poverty.”

The first 22 units available for ownership include a mix of duplexes, triplexes, fourplexes and rowhouses. PCRI also is redeveloping the former Grant Warehouse site on Northeast Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard into 80 apartments, ground-level retail space and community space. The development will be named in honor of Beatrice Morrow-Cannady, a pioneer in the fight for racial equality in Portland. Completion of The Beatrice Morrow is expected in 2018.

“I feel that this initiative gives me the satisfaction that progress has been made,” said Fitzpatrick, who has earned an Equal Opportunity Award from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) for her efforts to further fair housing.

In addition to working long days as PCRI’s executive director and chief executive officer, Fitzpatrick serves on the Development Review Advisory Committee for the Bureau of Development Services, the Portland Public Schools District-wide Boundary Review Advisory Committee, and the Metro Policy Advisory Committee. She credits her father for her stamina and work ethic; he raised Fitzpatrick and her younger siblings by himself after their mother died when Fitzpatrick was just 11 years old.

“I love people and I think I got that from my dad,” she said. “He was a businessman and did what he had to do to support his family. He did a fantastic job. He was a God-fearing man and he put the appreciation of God in me because I was the oldest one. He taught me the importance of giving, and in life we reap what we sow, so make sure that what you do is what you want to have come back to you.”

On the rare occasions when she’s not working, Fitzpatrick enjoys spending time with her five grandchildren and listening to live jazz music. She often attends the Catalina Jazz Festival, takes cruises that feature jazz and said Jimmy Mak’s was one of her favorite clubs before it closed.

“Music lifts my spirit and it takes my mind off work, which I need because my mind is always on work,” she said.

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The city of Portland is convening a five-member bond oversight committee to guide the Housing Bureau’s use of $258 million of bond money approved in November.

Expenditures from the voter-approved housing bond are on hold after Mayor Ted Wheeler in January directed the Housing Bureau to review its spending priorities and policies. The bureau had received criticism for getting too few affordable units for its dollars spent.

Formation of the Bond Oversight Committee was due to gain City Council approval Wednesday, but the council could not muster a quorum. The committee membership is expected to be approved at an upcoming council meeting.

The five appointed committee members will be Stephen Green, Jes Larson, Susan Emmons, Todd Struble and Allen Lazo. Their appointments will last until March 1, 2022.

The committee will provide oversight of spending from the housing bond. The committee will publish an annual report and oversee a yearly audit.

The Housing Bureau is also assembling a larger group of about 15 community experts in affordable housing, development, financing and related fields to come up with criteria to evaluate affordable housing proposals. That group will function as an advisory board to the bond oversight committee, and include industry professionals who are precluded from serving on the oversight committee due to conflict-of-interest policies.

While spending the bond money is on hold, the Housing Bureau continues to hear pitches, Director Kurt Creager said.

“We’re hearing proposals from private developers of things they would consider building and selling to the city,” he said. “Until the guidelines are developed, it would be premature to act on those.”

Guidelines could be written by June, Creager said.

The Housing Bureau is moving forward on other fronts. In February, it purchased the Ellington Apartments in Northeast Portland for $47 million. The bureau also is advancing housing projects funded by tax-increment financing.

Some nonprofit developers are hoping the city’s process doesn’t drag on, with projects waiting on the outcome.

“We’re hopeful that they understand the high demand for housing in the city of Portland and they come to a conclusion on how they want to create a process very quickly,” said Cynthia Parker, president and CEO of Bridge Housing.

One project, in the Produce Row area of Southeast Portland, is on hold until the city concludes its process, Parker said.

Another nonprofit’s executive said the delay in using housing bond funding was not a major obstacle.

“That directive has not impacted us so far because the projects in our pipeline are not using those funds,” said Travis Phillips, director of housing development at Portland Community Reinvestment Initiatives Inc.

PCRI is developing two affordable housing projects along Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard using TIF financing and low-income housing tax credit equity.

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