Hi Senate Candidates Chip Shields, Jo Ann Bowman and Karol Collymore:
Senate district 22, which includes North and Northeast Portland, has the highest total and the highest percentage of Public Housing clients of any senate district in the state of Oregon. This intentional overloading by the state of Oregon, Multnomah county, the Portland Development Commission, the Housing Authority of Portland and most egregiously by the mayor and the Portland city council has serious consequences on public safety, public schools, property values, local businesses' ability to survive with diminishing disposable incomes in their potential customer base, the ability to attract and hold middle class families when their children reach school age and the quality of life of everyone in senate district 22.
Regardless Of Who Is Appointed This Public Policy Issue Will Remain On The Table
In order for you to credibly discuss and address this matter with colleagues and constituents all parties MUST have authentic, accurate, complete and timely public housing statistical data from the four public jurisdictions that administer the annual expenditure of $200,000,000 of public funds on public housing in Multnomah county, namely, the State of Oregon, the Housing Authority of Portland, Multnomah county and the city of Portland.
Therefore, each of you need be on the public record before the appointment is made on September 24th declaring your support for a public policy of Equitable Distribution Of Public Housing and asking mayor Sam Adams, city commissioner Nick Fish, HAP Chair Jeff Bachrach, Multnomah county chair Ted Wheeler as well as Multnomah county commissioners Jeff Cogen, Deborah Kafory, Diane McKeel and Judy Shiprack to provide you and your constituents with the following public housing statistical data.
This public housing statistical data SHOULD be on computer files which can generate the requested reports in a matter of minutes if not seconds. If this public data is NOT on computer files then an immediate investigation must be conducted.
From the Housing Authority of Portland:
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 September 1, 2009.
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 September 1, 2009, with the following fields: 1. Age 2. Gender 3. Income 4. Neighborhood 5. Last Modification Date.
From the Portland Bureau of Housing:
1. What is the current total budget for the Bureau of Housing including the newly acquired funds from the Portland Development Commission?
2. How much of the current total budget for the Bureau of Housing including the newly acquired funds from the Portland Development Commission is dedicated to PUBLIC Housing? (Public Housing = Means Test + Government Subsidy + Rental Agreement)
3. What is the total number of PUBLIC Housing clients the Bureau of Housing is expected to serve in the current and next fiscal years?
4. Please provide a tab delimited text file with the following Bureau of Housing statistical data:
A record for every PUBLIC Housing client that includes fields for age, gender, neighborhood, income and last modification date.
Proposed Legislation
Here are public policy legislative proposals for the 2011 legislative assembly. They include several plans related to Public Housing (means test + government subsidy + rental agreement) which is totally under government control.
a) State agencies that provide funding or staff support to organizations that administer public housing programs anywhere in the state of Oregon must annually acquire comprehensive public housing statistical data from those organizations that will show at least the number of public housing clients in every neighborhood, median family income, gender and age within their jurisdictions before sending any state funds or providing services to those organizations.
b) State agencies must deny funding and staff support to any public housing project in a neighborhood that has 15% or more public housing clients.
c) State agencies must use the term, "public housing" in all official documents whenever this formula/definition, Public Housing = Means Test + Government Subsidy + Rental Agreement, defines the circumstance of the text.
d) Public housing is a regional issue in the Portland metropolitan area that should be managed by the Metro Regional Government. The Metro Regional Government should be given authority over all housing authorities in Multnomah, Clackamas and Washington counties and a statutory mandate to be guided by the principle of Equitable Distribution of Public Housing. Guidelines would set 15% public housing clients per neighborhood as a cap and 5% as a minimum target.
Candidates for appointment to senate district 22 and most certainly the senator appointee MUST explain to taxpayers, voters, constituents and their fellow candidates for public office which of these legislative proposals they intend to support or oppose and why. This CANNOT be credibly done without authentic, accurate, complete and timely public housing statistical data.
FYI
The following letter has been endorsed by three groups in senate district 22, The Interstate Corridor Urban Renewal Area Advisory Committee, the North Portland Business Association and the Portsmouth Residents Action Committee.
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
In order for taxpayers, voters, constituents and candidates for public office to evaluate, support or challenge these public policy legislative proposals it is necessary for them to have authentic, accurate, complete and timely public housing statistical data from the the State of Oregon, the Housing Authority of Portland, Multnomah county and the city of Portland.
There can be NO ACCOUNTABILITY for the annual spending of $200,000,000 of taxpayer dollars, nor reasoned, credible public housing policy established, nor defensible legislative action taken without authentic, accurate, complete and timely public housing statistical data.
Richard Ellmyer