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PORTLAND

Turning Neighborhoods Around

Bringing Bucks to Buckman

The Buckman neighborhood of Southeast Portland had was one of the poorest neighborhoods in Southeast Portland in the 1980s. Housing that had been built at the turn of the century was in disrepair, homes were being torn down and replaced by apartment buildings, and the local highschool closed due to low enrollment. The neighborhood was also impacted by high numbers of homeless people. REACH is a pioneering Portland CDC that purchased and renovated hundreds of units of affordable housing in the Buckman neighborhood during the 1980s and 1990s. In addition to affordable housing for the working poor and special needs populations, REACH’s programs include a variety of support services for adults and youth living in REACH housing, business district revitalization, and home repair for low-income seniors. REACH’s renovation worked helped pave the way to making Buckman a more livable neighborhood today.

North Macadam: Developing the Waterfront

This region on the city’s waterfront has long been an example of underutilized space in a city where real estate is increasingly scarce, but it is now undergoing rapid development. CDCs and the coalition Affordable Housing NOW! have rallied community support to secure an increase in affordable housing units.

In concert with environmentalists and greenspace activists, CDCs are also working to make the region more pedestrian-friendly. The construction of a mixed-use Center City neighborhood will make it easier for residents to shop and work inside the city.

Current Challenges

While Portland itself has enjoyed economic growth throughout the 1990s, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that the state of Oregon has an unemployment rate of 7.4 percent, one of the nation’s highest. Clearly, Oregon’s rural economy has not reaped the advantages of Portland’s economic boom. The danger is that Portland’s prosperity and controlled growth will create an economic barrier, as Oregon’s wealthiest remain within the city while its poor find themselves forced out to rural communities with few job opportunities. Since 2000, economic disparities have increased, the city’s unemployment rate has risen, and public and private budgets have been strained by the state’s deteriorating economy.