PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — A slate of affordable housing projects was approved by Portland City Council on Wednesday, but one commissioner took issue with how one of the projects would get funded.
The city council has set the goal of building 11,000 affordable housing units. One project is being paid for in part by the Portland Housing Bond and is entirely made up of affordable units. The other one is getting a limited tax exemption — but just three of the 74 units are affordable, which is what Commissioner Jo Ann Hardesty brought up during the meeting.
Hardesty also noted that the project is different in that it’s providing three-bedroom units in the city’s urban area, which she said is rare even as that’s the size of unit geared towards families.
The city loses around $40,000 in tax revenue, and Hardesty said the multi-unit tax exemption is not giving the city its return on investment — the project was in the works before the city raised the requirement to have affordable units from 4% to 10%.
“We continue to have buildings significantly built for singles, and we stuff three-bedroom units in them. Then we give tax breaks and we don’t come back and ask what’s the experience of families,” she said. “We have some questions we haven’t answered and what we’ve learned is this program has not given us the return on investment we have hoped.”
The other project is on Southeast Alder Street, which is planned to bring 159 affordable units and provide supportive services and housing for seniors. That project is slated to open up in 2024.
“This will be a tremendous improvement to the neighborhood and community,” said Stefanie Kandor with Related Northwest.