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PORTLAND

Portland: Spreading the Wealth, Stopping the Sprawl

Twenty years of economic boom times have boosted Portland’s population, raised incomes well above the national norm and placed Portland in the unenviable top 10 list of least affordable housing markets in the country.

Technology employers have added jobs by the tens of thousands to the regional economy, but wealth has not spread out evenly. Many workers lack the skills necessary to compete, and thousands of lower income residents have been squeezed out of homeownership.

But a growing number live in decent, affordable housing, thanks to Portland’s community development corporations (CDCs). One in particular has become recognized nationally as a model of comprehensive housing and neighborhood improvement. Since its founding in 1982, with $20,000, REACH Community Development has built, renovated, or preserved over 1,000 apartments and homes for rental or ownership.

Some projects reach out to city residents most at risk – several buildings built by REACH with HUD and local funding provide independent living to persons living with mental illness. A 119-unit building funded through the Low Income Housing Tax Credit program is home to seniors at risk of homelessness. REACH now works in seven neighborhoods in inner-southeast Portland and beyond, with an annual budget of $4.9 million. Among its programs now are also several helping to rebuild the commercial life of the communities in which it creates housing.

The rise in real estate values means that REACH can no longer purchase and rehabilitate single-family homes. Instead, it concentrates on maintaining the units it owns, developing new multi-family buildings and repairing home of senior with low incomes. REACH has also built the skills of its tenants, operating computer training and career skills workshops and a matched savings program for youth. REACH’s resident service programs for the tenants of its buildings were featured at a national conference on affordable housing in March 2005. In conjunction with the Portland Development Commission, REACH completed a $27 million mixed-use building that includes senior housing, a parking garage and retail shops.

REACH has been successful in part because of ongoing funding and technical support from Living Cities, the Enterprise Foundation and Portland’s Neighborhood Partnership Fund (a collaborative supported by local foundations, corporations and the City of Portland).