March 6, 2007
The Housing Alliance Update & Announcements is a bi-weekly electronic newsletter to keep you up-to-date about everything the Housing Alliance is doing to win in 2007 - and how you can get involved!
in this issue
SB 38 Hearing
Other Agenda Items: Inclusionary Zoning, Condo Conversions, Spending outside the URA District and Afffordability Covenants
Write a Letter to the Oregonian!
Other News
SB 38 Hearing
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The Senate Finance and Revenue Committee held a hearing on SB 38 on Monday, February 26. The Housing Alliance delivered compelling testimony on the need for affordable housing across the state and specifically how the new resources will be used. The Senators asked good questions, which we were able to answer through our testimony.
Especially if your senator sits on the Senate Finance and Revenue Committee, pick up the phone today and let them know how important SB 38 is to you! Remind them that the Oregon Association of Realtors has endorsed the Document Recording Fee! The Committee members are:
Ryan Deckert, Chair
Gary George, Vice Chair
Ginny Burdick
Rod Monroe
Bruce Starr
Other Agenda Items: Inclusionary Zoning, Condo Conversions, Spending outside the URA District and Affordability Covenants
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The rest of our agenda items are beginning to move! After being held up a little while due to staffing constraints in Legislative Counsel (where they draft the bill language), all of our remaining agenda items were introduced and are awaiting committee assignment.
Once we know the committee assignment we need Housing Alliance members to start contacting and setting up visits with the committee members. It will take everyone's time and efforts to move these agenda items along! Please contact Amy if you can invest time in helping move any of these proposals out of committee. Please specify which proposal you are willing to talk to legislators about (don't worry, we will provide talking points!): Inclusionary Zoning, Condo Conversions, Spending outside the URA District and/or Affordability Covenants
Write a Letter to the Oregonian!
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There was a column in Sunday's Oregonian that deserves our response. It was written by Martha Gies, a free-lance writer who compiles Portland's downtown housing inventory report for NW Pilot Project, a nonprofit that offers a broad range of supports to seniors.
The article makes the case that despite the public splash about the 10 Year Plan to End Homelessness, there is growing pressure in the housing market for low incomes working families, seniors and people with disabilities because we are losing affordable housing quicker than we are producing it. Martha goes on to show the resource gap that underlies the housing shortage, and even plugs Portland's recently passed TIF Affordable Housing Set Aside AND the Housing Alliance proposal that would establish a dedicated funding source for affordable housing, a giant step towards securing $100 million each biennium for affordable housing.
We should get letters in that plug the $100 million and reinforce the idea that with adequate resources, we can reverse the trend that makes housing out of reach of regular Oregonians. Since Martha's article makes the need case well, we should focus almost entirely on the value statements that show why housing is important, and solutions to the housing challenge.
A link to the article and talking points are below. Please try and submit a letter in the next few days.
To submit a letter to the Oregonian: Email your letter to letters@news.oregonian.com. Word limit 150. Please include your name, affiliation, address and phone.
Oregonian article:The decline and fall of affordable housing
The downtown that Portland builds should open doors for people of all income levels
Talking points:
1) Pick a value statement to frame your support of the $100 Million
- Hardworking people should be able to afford housing and still have enough money for groceries and other basic necessities
- Children deserve an opportunity to succeed in school and life, which is tied to having a stable home
- Housing gives people an opportunity to build better lives. To succeed you need a place to call home
- It's only fair that everyone has a safe, decent place to live
2) Highlight preservation: It is a shame that because of these expiring federal contracts that we are losing some of the precious little housing affordable to working families, seniors and others being priced out of Oregon. The legislature needs to pass this $100 million for homes, and use it to preserve the affordable housing we already have.
3) Highlight need for new housing: There is no county in Oregon where you can afford a two-bedroom apartment unless you are earning over $13 an hour. Unfortunately, many families depend on jobs paying much less than that. When families cannot afford housing, they are forced to make choices like pay the rent or put food on the table. That choice is unacceptable. We need the state legislature to pass $100 Million for homes.
4) Highlight need for funds to prevent homelessness: As the article points out, as we are making progress on solving chronic homelessness, there are an increasing number of families, seniors and people with disabilities at risk of homelessness because of the lack of housing they can afford. If we do not stabilize those at risk homelessness, we do more to create a revolving door for the homeless rather than 'end' homelessness. We need the state legislature to pass $100 Million for homes, which has funds for emergency rent assistance and other proven programs that help families stay in their homes and thrive.
Other News!
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Mid-Columbia Workforce Housing Summit - April 6, Hood River
Housing advocates in the Columbia Gorge invite you to join them at their regional workforce housing summit, "Why Workforce Housing Matters" on April 6, 2007. An increasing challenge to many workers during recent times is to find affordable housing close to their jobs. When people can't afford to live where they work, the whole community suffers. When housing is out of reach to ordinary folks, local employers have difficulty obtaining and retaining valued workers.
The Mid-Columbia WorkForce Steering Committee would like to extend an open invitation to join your neighbors and community leaders from throughout the Mid-Columbia in a full day educational and strategic planning event April 6, 2007 at the Hood River Inn in Hood River Oregon. US Representative Greg Walden, Economist John Mitchell, and others will focus on the need to view housing like economic development as an essential component of a strong economy. The afternoon session will provide an opportunity to generate solutions to meet workforce housing need in Gilliam Hood River, Klickitat Sherman Skamania Wasco and Wheeler Counties through innovative, collaborative efforts. For more information call Ruby Mason 541-296-5462. Registration brochure is attached.
New Housing Alliance Member!
The Housing Alliance would like to welcome the Oregon Developmental Disability Coalition as a new member!
Want more information on the Housing Alliance? Go to http://www.oregonhousingalliance.org.
For a full archive of Housing Alliance Weekly Updates, go to http://www.oregonhousingalliance.org/updates_archive.html
For information on the 2005 Legislative Session, click here.
Please email or call us with questions or ideas for how we can best keep you informed. Contact Amy Fauver or Michael Anderson.
