Voters gave Portland the go-ahead in 2016 to borrow $258 million to invest in affordable housing to address a growing housing crisis. The goal for the Housing Bureau’s first-ever bond is to build or buy 1,300 housing units over a five- to eight-year period. Many of those units will serve very low-income households. Some of those households need additional services.
Bond implementation is off to a solid start. The Housing Bureau established clear criteria for project selection, but some priority communities named in the ballot language, such as veterans, were left out. The Bureau appeared to follow a consistent project selection process and developed a new approach to target priority populations for the housing created.
Including all populations prioritized for housing, documenting and communicating project rationale better, and continuing to evaluate whom bond projects are serving will help ensure bond implementation reflects voter intent.