BILLIONS for Bankers, MILLIONS for HAP with NO ACCOUNTABILITY. There is no difference between giving BILLIONS of taxpayer dollars to the Wall Street Wizards and MILLIONS to the Housing Authority of Portland because neither of them will tell those of us providing the funds where and how they are spending OUR money. It's outrageous and it must stop.
The Coalition For A Livable Future defiled its self-anointed holier than thou moral superiority when all but one of its members, Oregon Sustainable Agricultural Land Trust, indicated support for the discredited, abhorrent and UNACCOUNTABLE public policy in Multnomah, Clackamas and Washington counties of UNLIMITED regional neighborhood concentration of public housing in Multnomah county.
The CLF board, its staff and every one of its member organizations were asked the following on November 17, 2008.
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Hi Coalition for a Livable Future Board, Staff and Members:
Your most recent issue of CONNECTIONS prominently displays the words balance, fairness and most importantly, EQUITY.
Two published CLF objectives relate to the words balance, fairness and most importantly, EQUITY.
(http://www.clfuture.org/about/mission/document_view)
1. Assuring easy and EQUITABLE access to employment and affordable housing throughout the region.
2. Promoting the preservation and development of housing affordable to low and moderate income residents throughout the region.
While CLF is silent on the issue of providing PUBLIC HOUSING - a 200 million dollar annual taxpayer expenditure in Multnomah county - it would be reasonable to assume that if CLF members were asked they would support the objective of promoting EQUITABLE distribution of public housing throughout the region.
On behalf of the Portsmouth Residents Action Committee and the North Portland Business Association we request that you place before your membership the following addition to CLF objectives:
h) Promoting equitable distribution of public housing throughout the region.
We also request that you place before the CLF membership the public housing statement below for consideration and support by individual members and the CLF.
Portsmouth Residents Action Committee And The North Portland Business Association Statement On Public Housing Equity
A. We oppose a public policy of unlimited neighborhood concentration of public housing.
B. We support a public policy of equitable distribution of public housing which requires authentic, accurate, complete and timely public housing statistical data from all pubic entities that administer public housing programs.
C. We request authentic, accurate, complete and timely public housing statistical data from the Housing Authority of Portland in the following format:
Report #1. HAP Public Housing Program
A tab delimited text file with the following fields: 1. Age 2. Gender 3. Income 4. Neighborhood 5. Last Modification Date, for ALL clients in this database.
Report #2. HAP Section 8 Housing Voucher Program
A tab delimited text file with the following fields: 1. Age 2. Gender 3. Income 4. Neighborhood 5. Last Modification Date, for ALL clients in this database.
Report #3. New Columbia in North Portland's Portsmouth Neighborhood Program
A tab delimited text file with the following fields: 1. Age 2. Gender 3. Income 4. Neighborhood 5. Last Modification Date, for ALL HAP public housing clients (means test + government subsidy + rental agreement) living in New Columbia as of October 1, 2008.
Report #4. HAP Affordable Housing Program
A tab delimited text file, including the total number of public housing (means test + government subsidy + rental agreement) HAP clients living in all of HAP's 32 properties in Multnomah county as of October 1, 2008, with the following fields: 1. Age 2. Gender 3. Income 4. Neighborhood 5. Last Modification Date.
D. We support the request made by the Interstate Corridor Urban Renewal Area Advisory Committee to the Portland Development Commission to stop all new funding for public housing intended for the Portsmouth neighborhood and rerouted to other ICURAAC neighborhoods with less than 15% public housing clients. (See ICURRAC letter immediately below)
November 7, 2007
Dear Portland Development Commission:
We, the Interstate Corridor Urban Renewal Area Advisory Committee, support a public housing location policy of equitable distribution of public housing (defined as requiring three components: means test + government subsidy + rental agreement). This is consistent with the public housing location policy of the Portland Bureau of Housing and Community Development's published public housing location policy which is:
1. Maximize housing choice, especially for low-income people who have traditionally been limited in the location of housing that they could afford;
2. Discourage the concentration of low- or no- income households in any one area of the city;
3. Encourage the creation of additional housing resources for low-income households integrated throughout the community.
Much of the work of the citizen volunteers on the ICURAAC involves advising the PDC on how to spend public funds on public housing. Acknowledging equitable distribution of public housing as a policy gives us the foundation upon which we can make reasonable, justifiable and defensible decisions.
As an operational imperative of a public housing location policy of equitable distribution of public housing, we have set 15% as a cap on the percentage of public housing clients in any of the 10 neighborhoods included in the Interstate Corridor Urban Renewal Area which would allow future PDC funding for public housing projects. The Portsmouth neighborhood, which has more than 30% public housing clients, is indisputably in this category. As a result, we, the Interstate Corridor Urban Renewal Area Advisory Committee, exercise our advisory responsibility by advising you, the Portland Development Commission, to stop all future funding for pubic housing projects in the Portsmouth neighborhood and redirect those funds to other Interstate Corridor Urban Renewal Area neighborhoods with a population of less than 15% public housing clients.
Thank you for your support of this recommendation by the Interstate Corridor Urban Renewal Area Advisory Committee.
Sincerely,
Interstate Corridor Urban Renewal Area Advisory Committee
E. We will oppose all new public housing projects in North Portland unless and until it has received authentic, accurate, complete and timely public housing statistical data from the Housing Authority of Portland as stated in article C above.
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If you are a member of any organization that pays dues to belong to the Coalition For A Livable Future, excepting OSALT, you are supporting the discredited, abhorrent and UNACCOUNTABLE public policy in Multnomah, Clackamas and Washington counties of UNLIMITED regional neighborhood concentration of public housing in Multnomah county. This would include those of you who are members of:
1000 Friends of Oregon [Not so many friends in Portsmouth, Lents, St. Johns, Argay and other neighborhoods OVERLOADED with public housing.]
Audubon Society of Portland
American Institute of Architects, Portland Chapter
Bicycle Transportation Alliance
Ecumenical Ministries of Oregon [Morally indefensible.]
Environmental Commission of the Episcopal Diocese of Oregon [Morally indefensible.]
Hot Lips Pizza
Kaiser Permanente
League of Women Voters of the Columbia River Region
Norm Thompson
Urban League of Portland [Disgraceful.]
Portland General Electric [Rate payers should demand withdrawal from CLF.]
SEIU Local 49
Wells Fargo [Supporting regional economic segregation and low-income public housing ghetto building with bailout money?]
(see CLF website for complete listing, http://www.clfuture.org/about/members/document_view)
It is very likely that most of you had no idea that your CLF affiliated organization is now on the record as rejecting Equitable Distribution of Public Housing throughout the Metro region and instead supports concentrating all the region's public housing into a few select neighborhoods in Multnomah county.
Some of the notable CLF member leaders supporting the discredited, abhorrent and UNACCOUNTABLE public policy in Multnomah, Clackamas and Washington counties of UNLIMITED regional neighborhood concentration of public housing in Multnomah county:
A. CLF board member and Portland city commissioner Amanda Fritz. [Our 1.6 million dollar tax payer funded commissioner.]
B. Marcus Mundy, CEO and President of the Portland Urban League [Hey, Marcus. Wake up! This involves your constituency.]
C. Jim Piro, CEO and President of Portland General Electric [Keep him in mind next time you pay your electric bill.]
D. Elisabeth L. Lyon, President 1000 Friends of Oregon
E. Richard Kovacevich, Chairman Wells Fargo & Company [Bailouts for the rich, ghettos for the poor.]
F. Alice Dale, President SEIU Local 49
G. The Rev. Dr. Lowell Greathouse, President Ecumenical Ministries of Oregon [Perhaps he will invite Catholic Bishop Richard Williamson to Oregon to deny both the Holocaust and UNLIMITED regional neighborhood concentration of public housing in Multnomah county.]
H. Mary Roberts, Chair Bicycle Transportation Alliance
I. David Partridge, President AIA Portland [Committed to designing bigger, better and beautiful public housing compounds in Multnomah county.]
J. Peter Paquet, President Audubon Society of Portland
For those of you who hear a loud and painful dissonance sung by the CLF choir about goals for regional "affordable housing" and regional "public housing" speak up and tell your leadership that you are humiliated and it's time to bring harmony to your organization's housing policy songs.
For the rest of us, consider that a disturbingly large number of our fellow citizens from Washington, Multnomah and Clackamas counties, who presumed to hold the moral high ground, the do-gooder progressive elite in the Metro area, have overwhelmingly agreed that economic segregation and the building of low-income public housing ghettos in a few neighborhoods in Multnomah county will make a more "livable future" for those that don't live in those neighborhoods.
The Portsmouth Residents Action Committee, The North Portland Business Association and Others have taken note of the Coalition For A Livable Future's "Concern" For Our Livable Future.
Richard Ellmyer