By The Hillsboro Argus, March 29, 2012

Expanding the supply of affordable housing is a worthy goal for any community. Consensus, though, is harder to achieve on where those homes and apartments should be built to serve low-income residents and special populations, such as the mentally ill, convicted felons, and people trying to overcome drug and alcohol addictions. That’s why government regulations dictate licensing requirements and operating rules to minimize conflicts and maximize public safety in affected neighborhoods.

< View full size. Photo by George Rede/The Oregonian

Last June, representatives of the Hillsboro Neighborhoods Coalition, concerned about the clustering of social services downtown, asked the City Council for a moratorium on new outpatient treatment facilities and a study to ensure all residential facilities operating within the city are appropriately identified and licensed as per state law.

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from Oregon Housing Blog, April 8, 2012

Problems and Recommended Corrective Actions for the Metro Housing Supply Report Being Considered at Wed. MPAC Meeting.

1. Reporting the income groupings of affordable units in cities, counties, and centers. [Income groupings are in the database but omitted from the report].
2. Reporting those cities and the 18 regional and town centers which have NO affordable units. [Cities and Centers with NO affordable units are not shown in the report].
3. Reporting the share of all units in Centers that are affordable at different income ranges. My analysis indicates that (excluding the Portland Central City) only 3% of all dwelling units in regional and town centers are affordable to those with incomes below 50% MFI. 
4. Correcting an inadvertent error in the median income Functional Plan definition used to calculate affordable rents.
5. Creation of a single Excel worksheet with all 2011 data and data elements from the “unit details” table and the “main table”  table in the housing supply database.

Update: Tuesday, April 10, 2012: Updated Metro Affordable Housing Supply Comments Now Include City Comparisons by Income.

1. For every 1,000 housing units , Portland has a regulated affordable housing supply of 83 units vs 43 units in the other 23 cities. (See far right column in table) That’s about a 2 to 1 ratio. [8.3% rate vs. 4.3% rate].
2. The rate of regulated supply affordable to households with incomes below 50% (See column with GREEN fill) drops to 35 units per 1,000 in Portland to only 6 per 1,000 housing units in the 23 other Metro Cities. That means that the rate in Portland for regulated housing affordable to incomes below 50% MFI is nearly 6 times the combined rate in 23 other Metro cities. [ 3.5% rate vs .6% rate].

It’s called The Founders Clinic and it opened last week in Oregon City. For its first month of operation, the clinic is open on Thursday evenings from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. In future months, it will be open more frequently. The Founders Clinic will provide primary medical care for Clackamas County residents who do not have health insurance or access to public healthcare programs and whose income is below 200 percent of the current federal poverty guidelines.

Services provided

Medical volunteers will provide care for routine medical conditions, including chronic conditions such as hypertension, diabetes, asthma and heart disease. Staff stress that this is not an urgent care or emergency facility and they do not see patients for care related to motor vehicle accidents or Workers’ Compensation injuries. Veterans will be referred to the V.A. Hospital.

Call for an appointment

Administrative staff at the Clinic will review and approve eligibility documentation before a patient can be seen by medical staff. If you or somebody you know in Clackamas County may qualify for services here, call 503-722-4400 to set up an eligibility screening appointment.

The Founders Clinic is modeled after the experience and success of the national organization, Volunteers in Medicine, a national network of free clinics that started in 1994. They have 85 clinics across the country. Oregon City’s clinic is the first one to open in the Portland area.

“Proposed $20 million low-income senior housing project stalls in Beaverton”
By Dominique Fong, The Oregonian,  March 02, 2012

A $20 million housing project for low-income seniors did not receive a key federal grant late last year, stalling development that Beaverton officials long envisioned would spur the downtown area.

For three years, the city had deemed the project a “catalyst” that would provide affordable housing for seniors and eventually jolt private investment.

City officials partnered with Providence Health & Services, which would lease a city-owned block bordered by Southwest 1st Street, Angel Avenue, Main Avenue and Farmington Road for the project.

Preliminary plans included a four-story mixed-use building, where the lower floor would have space for a program that provides senior health care and three upper floors provided at least 78 housing units for low-income seniors.

Both organizations had pegged the project on a $9.4 million federal grant. The Section 202 grant provides money for the development and maintenance of housing for very low-income people ages 62 and older.

The project, however, was rejected late last year, according to Providence and city officials. Without the Section 202 grant, the project could not move forward.

“The project has always been designed as a Section 202 project from the start,” said Daryn Murphy, a project manager for Portland-based Housing Development Center, a nonprofit that worked with Providence on the grant application.

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A few issues remain to be ironed out at the Con-way development site in Northwest Portland.

On Wednesday evening, Con-way Vice President of Corporate Development J. Craig Boretz joined GBD Architects principal Phil Beyl, Mill Creek Residential Trust Vice President of Development Sam Rodriguez and Northwest District Association President Ron Walters at the Lucky Lab Beer Hall in Northwest Portland to present an update of their efforts to develop a master plan for the project. The event, which was organized by the Portland Urban Land Institute Young Leaders Group, drew approximately 90 people.

“Probably the biggest open issue is in the location of open spaces – i.e., parks,” Beyl said in an interview before the presentation.

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By Lindsey O’Brien, DJC Oregon, January 9, 2012
<The developers of the $26 million Prescott Apartments project hope to break ground in March.(Rendering courtesy of Myhre Group)

Like many developers these days, those working on the Prescott Apartments have encountered twists and turns in their search for financing. But construction of the $26 million, 155-unit mixed-use building may finally begin in March, and contribute to a boom in North Portland.

In 2008, Prescott Partners, a development entity affiliated with Sierra Construction Co., purchased the lot on the corner of North Interstate Avenue and Skidmore Street. After holding the property through the worst of the economic downturn, the Woodinville, Wash.-based group has come up with a new financing plan, so that ground can be broken by early spring.

However, the construction timeline hinges on approval of a Department of Housing and Urban Development loan guarantee, expected to be issued this week. And while 31 units are planned to be affordable housing, changes to Portland’s tax abatement programs could impact that number.

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By Rachel Stark, Oregonian, January 06, 2012

Loss lingers for former residents of Thunderbird Mobile Club, four years after Wilsonville park closed

View full sizeThomas Boyd/The OregonianStairs stand detached from the mobile home they once served in Thunderbird Mobile Club days before the park closed in February 2008.

WILSONVILLE — The last residents of the Thunderbird Mobile Club in Wilsonville can all trace a chaotic chapter in their lives to February 2007, when they were evicted at the height of the housing boom to make way for new development.

More than 50 Oregon mobile home parks issued mass evictions in the five years ending in March 2008. The Thunderbird closure was one of the largest.

Many of the residents were seniors on fixed incomes, some with homes too old to move or be accepted into other parks. Others could not afford up to $30,000 in relocation costs. Uproar over the dislocation helped prompt legislators to pass a tenant protection law.

Click here to read the full story: http://www.oregonlive.com/wilsonville/index.ssf/2012/01/post_15.html

“Portland to approve pilot program to allow some car camping in church and other parking lots,” Oregonian, Dec. 21, 2011

If your congregation or organization plans to host vehicles in its parking lot, please review the broad set of guidelines and issues that overnight sleeping hosts should address.

By Lindsey O’Brien, DJC Oregon, Tuesday, January 10, 2012
Mauro Cettina, the facilities manager at Rolling Hills Community Church in Tualatin, is working with contractors that are volunteering time and donating materials to build a severe weather shelter in the church’s basement. (Photo by Sam Tenney/DJC)

Mauro Cettina knows that budgets are tight for most Washington County businesses, but he doesn’t mind calling to ask for their help.

Cettina, the facilities manager at Rolling Hills Community Church in Tualatin, is helping coordinate a group of contractors volunteering their time and materials to help the region’s homeless population. He has reached out to local businesses and Rolling Hills congregants, seeking donations of any size.

Click here to read the rest of the story: http://djcoregon.com/news/2012/01/10/tualatin-church-gathers-donations-to-build-homeless-shelter/