Several Oregon ON members, including  Emily Reiman of NEDCO (pictured left) have been working on the rulemaking process for SB 1552, as part of a special Oregon ON Homeownership  Counseling Subcommittee (Emily is a co-faciliator of our Homeownership Education and Counseling Working Group).

Throughout this process, Emily has been meeting regularly with homeownership counselors all over the state to find out the best and most efficient way to implement the program so that it is actually doable and helps homeowners as much as possible.

SB 1552 offers mediation to homeowners in foreclosure or underwater in their mortgages, giving them the opportunity to discuss foreclosure- avoidance measures with their bank and a neutral third party. Part of the legislation stipulates that homeowners must receive counseling before they are eligible for mediation, which could potentially greatly increase the demand for homeowner counseling across the state.

Our goal in participating in the rulemaking process is to ensure the best outcome for homeowners, and our members and housing counselors.

Thank you to Emily and all of our members for all your time and hard work!

Now that it is actually time to figure out who to vote for in Portland’s myriad elections, we thought you might find these Candidates’ Questionnaires on housing helpful. You’re welcome.

• Metro Candidate Q&A (+ late entry by Michael Durrow)
• Portland City Commissioner Q&A
• Portland Mayor Q&A

Watch this short, adorable and enlightening video, brought to you by the Community Alliance of Tenants, JOIN, Street Roots, 211info and Oregon Opportunity Network about how important Portland’s Safety Net is!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zeo3jLBUSeE

Read more about the Safety Net campaign at: http://scr.bi/FOgqmf and http://www.facebook.com/PDXSafetyNet

< You can also get buttons that say “I Support the Portland Safety Net” at our office and that of our above partners. Recommended by 9 out of 10 plastic dinosaurs

Another important way you can help:

Please help the Safety Net campaign by donating much needed items to people experiencing homelessness, such as blankets, towels, washcloths, new undergarments, new socks, toothbrushes, toothpaste, soap, shampoo, diapers, lotion, etc.

Place your donations into the green bins that look like this:

You can find the green bins at

•  JOIN: 1435 NE 81st Ave, Suite 100, Portland, OR 97213

• Street Roots: 211 Northwest Davis Street, Portland, OR 97209

• Community Alliance of Tenants:  2710 NE 14th Ave.,Portland, OR 97212.

Anything you can donate will help so much! Go in together with friends or family to buy items listed above. No donation is too little or too big! Every item you donate helps someone who is homeless and in need. Thank you!

Be sure to stay tuned in for additional action alerts on the
“I Support the Portland Safety Net” Campaign!

Fair Housing Council of Oregon 2012 Poster Contest Winning Entry

Oregon ON has long held the belief that everyone has the right to a decent affordable home. More recently, we embarked on a process to ensure that that right truly does extend to everyone, regardless of race, ethnicity, familial status or sexual orientation. At both of our 2011 Industry Support Conferences, Oregon ON members discussed fair housing practices and concluded that we should adopt a Value Statement and set of Best Practices that would ensure that ALL Oregonians had the right to a decent home.

In the Fall of 2011 Oregon ON formed a “Fair Housing Best Practices” committee comprised of several of our members from across the state. This committee worked with many of our partners, including Oregon Housing and Community Services, the Portland Housing Bureau, the Fair Housing Council of Oregon and Metro Multifamily Housing Association, to develop a value statement and a set of best practices that reflected our commitment to fair housing, and more importantly, to the fair treatment of all Oregonians. Oregon ON’s Board of Directors, our Policy Councils and our partners reviewed this value statement and these best practices and provided amendments and critique. The resulting final documents were presented to Oregon ON’s Board of Directors for official adoption on April 4^th, 2012, and they were unanimously approved and adopted. We ask that all of our members also adopt these values and best practices within their organizations.

We are proud to show our commitment to ensuring that all Oregonians have access to safe and decent affordable homes and we are pleased to share this commitment and these best practices with communities and citizens throughout the state. It is our hope that by adopting these values and best practices Oregon becomes a more welcoming and inclusive place for all people.

Sincerely,

John Miller, Executive Director

Oregon ON Fair Housing Best Practices – Statement of Values:

Our goal as an industry is to create properties that are welcoming and effectively serve all types of people.  We believe our communities are best served when decent housing is available to all people, regardless of income or personal characteristics. We want to continually further fair housing, to ensure that members of all protected classes have equal access to housing within the community of their choice, to make sure that none of our actions or rules has a disparate impact on a particular group of people.

All of us recognize that we may have internal biases of which we may be unaware.  We know that the process of furthering fair housing and equity in our communities is a continual process of assessment, learning and evaluating our results.  We see fair housing as an ideal that requires continual effort, not an end to be reached.

Click here to read the Fair Housing Best Practices.

These Fair Housing Best Practices may be modified from time to time by Oregon ON staff. The document will be maintained on our website and shared with both current and incoming members. All members are expected to adhere to the values expressed in the policy and to strive to use the Best Practices in their organization. We welcome and encourage member input and feedback on these Best Practices; please contact John Miller or a Board member.

OK, that’s not the name of our great new afternoon session at our 2012 Spring Industry Support Conference, but it could be!

Only two weeks away from Conference day (May 16), we are excited to announce that at a joint afternoon session (1:30-4pm) between the Executive Directors and the Multi-Family Developers*, there will be a Q&A with HUD’s Mary McBride. 
*All sessions are open to all

HUD Regional Director for Region X, which serves Alaska, Idaho, Oregon and Washington, Mary will join us for a question and answer session regarding HUD programs and current and future funding issues. In the past few years program funding has dropped and the rules governing that funding have changed. This is an opportunity to listen and provide feedback to Mary, who will then relay concerns and suggestions on to the main HUD offices in Washington DC.

Mary’s folks tell us that she likes to do these sessions because she wants to hear from practitioners what is happening on the ground and about their concerns. I had the opportunity to interview Mary shortly after she came on here at Region 10, and I can tell you that she is a good speaker: personable, down-to-earth, and engaging. Mary did community development work for almost 30 years, including heading a small rural economic development council and the USDA-Rural Development for Washington state. While she clearly represents a federal agency, and all that goes with that, I found her to be refreshingly direct. [As an interesting side-note, a possible federal streamlining compliance project she was excited about in 2010 actually came to pass this year, thanks to a partnership between her, OHCS and USDA Rural Development].

This session is only one of 18 amazing sessions, and our lunch plenary session isn’t so shabby either: we will be joined by Oregon Housing and Community Service’s Margaret Van Vliet. She will be talking about the Governor’s five priorities and how they link to Oregon’s housing and community development needs.

To learn more about the Conference or to register, click here.

Thank you to our Conference Sponsors; we just started the Conference sponsorship program in 2010, and the generous support of these “early adopters” is helping us make the Conferences realize their full potential. Please stop by their tables and say “hi” at the Conference!

Bergsund DeLaney Architecture and Planning, P.C.
Umpqua Bank
Coin Meter
Fair Housing Council of Oregon/Community Development Law Center
Affordable Housing Risk Pool
Inspections Unlimited

Oregon ON would like to extend a warm thanks to renewing members Cathey Briggs, Whit Spencer, and Oregon Housing Authorities, who raised their dues this year! A network is only as strong as its membership, and we are proud to have them in ours.

Also, thank you again to Enterprise Community Partners who raised their dues this year. Enterprise Senior Program Director Amanda Saul had this to say about it: “We are pleased to be able to increase our membership to Oregon ON this year. We feel that they share our big-picture thinking about the importance of the industry’s sustainability, and so it’s a great partnership. The membership, along with last year’s grant for Oregon ON’s Industry Support Program and our event sponsorship, are just a small part of our strong commitment to Oregon’s affordable housing industry.” Thanks Amanda!

Ready to make a significant difference in the State of Oregon? Oregon Opportunity Network has launched an  Industry Sustainability Initiative to support the long-term sustainability of housing projects, our member organizations, and the affordable housing and community development industry in Oregon. Oregon ON is seeking an exceptional and highly motivated individual to lead this significant and exciting effort.

Click here to learn more about the Policy and Sustainability Program Manager position.

The Spring 2012 Industry Support Conference will be held in Eugene May 16 at the Lane Community College Center for Meeting & Learning.

Thank you to our Ruby Sponsor: Bergsund DeLaney Architecture

Thank you to our Amethyst Sponsors:
- AHRP – Affordable Housing Risk Pool
- Coin Meter
- Fair Housing Council of Oregon
Please be sure to visit all our sponsors’ display tables during the Conference!

The conference (Full Conference Agenda) will include workshops, trainings and best practices sessions in:

• Fiscal Management (Agenda)
• Homeownership Development (Agenda)
• Homeownership Education and Counseling (Agenda)
• Multi-Family Development (Agenda)
• Property & Asset Management (Agenda)
• Resident Services (Agenda)
• Executive Directors (Agenda)

The Oregon Housing Authorities will meet for their quarterly meeting in Eugene on May 17 & 18. For more information, contact Cristel Allen.

You can register on-line or by filling out the form on this web page, or by mail (registration form here). Agendas are always subject to change, so check back again for more details. To learn more about the Industry Support Program and Conferences, please contact Terrie Hendrickson via email or at (503) 223-4041 ext. 102.

Affordable housing, an issue long neglected by Metro, is finally getting some play this spring as three Metro Council seats come up for election.

On April 10, Oregon ON joined with 211info, Street Roots, and JOIN to hold a Metro Council Candidates’ Public Forum on Housing.

We were joined by both candidates for District 6, Bob Stacey, Jonathan Levine; the sole candidate for District 3, now-Mayor of Tigard Craig Dirksen; and four candidates for District 5, Terry Parker, Sam Chase, Helen Ying, and Michael Durrow.

Described by one Oregon ON member as “more eye opening than I expected,” at the forum several things became clear.

Foremost, although a few were educated on the issues, it is apparent that affordable housing is not something that most Metro candidates have thought about. One of the purposes behind all our candidates forums was to get affordable housing in front of our future Metro Councilors (and City Commissioners and Mayor) and educate them on the issues. Despite this, it was clear that some candidates still did not have much concept of a regional approach to ensuring adequate affordable housing.

As a nonprofit, we cannot exhort some candidates over others, but we highly recommend reading the written responses to questions that all candidates received in advance: Metro Candidate Q&A. (To read written responses to our two other candidates’ forums, click here).  Candidates’ answers at the Forum were even more revealing – watch the next edition of Street Roots for that coverage.

Secondly, it would seem that many Metro candidates think services and housing are something Metro has no influence or purview over, although some candidates had concrete ideas about how to encourage provision of housing and services through zoning and other regulatory structures that Metro can influence.

Oregon ON’s position on Metro’s involvement with affordable housing, is that the supply of affordable housing is as crucial to regional livability as say, a healthy watershed, and just as it takes a region-wide effort to protect our watershed and ensure adequate supply, it will take a region-wide effort to protect our affordable housing stock and ensure adequate supply. While cities and counties must indeed shoulder the bulk of this work, region-wide leadership and vision could, and should, greatly support and enhance the efforts of local municipalities.

We offer a sincere thank you to all the candidates and audience members for taking the time to join us at the candidates’ forums, to our co-sponsors and moderators for all their help, and to Portland Housing Bureau for helping to fund our public forum series.

Our final 2012 public forum, a round table on equity and equity in City contracting, is coming up on June 12; stay tuned for more details!

Click here to read an Oregonian story on the Metro Councilor’s race.

Thank you to our newest individual members Pat Cason and Tom Cusack!

Tom is the creator and author of the Oregon Housing Blog, the state’s most thorough source of affordable housing analysis and news. His blog states: “On Independence Day in 2007 I retired after 34 years of federal service at HUD, the last 10 as the Field Office Director in Portland Oregon.” In 2010, Tom was granted the Transparency Award by the Oregon ON Board of Directors, in recognition of his work. Click here to read the Board’s brief award speech by Robin Boyce.

Pat Cason is a native Oregonian who works in the mental health field in Enterprise, Oregon and other towns. Her poems have appeared in publications nationally and abroad. She says she “aspires to write poems irresistible to people who think they hate poetry.” Here is a beautiful poem she published on Oregonlive on June 19, 2010: