Housing Alliance Victory! Legislature Allocates Funding to Save Homes for Thousands of Oregonians

Our hard work paid off! At the end of the 2008 Legislative session the State Legislature allocated $1 million from the General Fund to create the 'Housing Acquisition Fund' (SB 5556) and an additional $4 million annual capacity for the Oregon Affordable Housing Tax Credit (HB 3619A). These dollars will save the homes of thousands of vulnerable Oregon working families, seniors and people with disabilities.

Between now and 2013, almost 7,300 rent-subsidized apartments in Oregon and millions of dollars in federal rent assistance attached to these apartments are at risk of converting to market rates due to expiration of government subsidy contracts.

Thanks to the leadership of Senators Kurt Schrader (D-Canby), Betsy Johnson (D-Scappoose) and Richard Devlin (D-Tualatin), and Representatives Mary Nolan (D-Portland), Phil Barnhart (D-Central Lane and Linn Counties) and Jeff Merkley (D-Portland), the State now has two crucial tools needed to save these homes.

The $1 million in State General Fund allocated for the Housing Acquisition Fund will be matched by $1 million from the Oregon Housing and Community Services Department and nearly $5 million in grants and loans from the Meyer Memorial Trust and the Collins Foundation in an innovative public-private-philanthropic partnership to establish the Oregon Housing Acquisition Fund. In addition, the fund has secured almost $33 million in pledges or expressions of interest from others.

Members of the Housing Alliance believe that hard-working people should be able to afford housing and still have money left for food and basic necessities.

This isn't the case today.

We know that one in five people in Oregon can't afford the cost of their housing. People are going hungry and doing without medicine for themselves and their kids in order to keep a roof over their heads.

Let's give all Oregonians the opportunity to build better lives. To succeed, we all need a place to call home.

Our Goal:

We must take significant steps towards meeting housing needs in the State of Oregon. To begin addressing these needs, the Legislature can act in two ways.

1. Substantially Increase Funding for Housing Development and Support Programs, with a long-term goal of increasing to $100 million per biennium. Current expenditures are approximately $20 million per biennium.

2. Use Policy Tools to increase housing availability or stability.