Metro’s Massive Mission Creep As Yet INDEFENSIBLE, UNSUPPORTABLE

On June 7, the Metro Council unanimously referred a $652.8 million affordable housing bond to the November ballot. I urge all of you who are either players or influencers in this political drama to seriously consider the following:

1. METRO has no charter mandate nor experience in PUBLIC HOUSING *1. This proposed PUBLIC HOUSING bond is massive mission creep for Metro.

2. ALL of the Metro Bond proposal is for PUBLIC HOUSING, i.e. a class of housing defined as, Means Test (<=80 percent MFI) + Government Subsidy (any government any type) + rental agreement. It has nothing to do with AFFORDABLE HOUSING which is a mathematical construct defined as, Rent/Mortgage + Insurance + Taxes + Utilities <=30 percent Household Income. EVERY house, condo and apartment is AFFORDABLE to someone.

3. MOST PUBLIC HOUSING is NOT AFFORDABLE HOUSING.

4. “For the average home, that cost will be $5 a month” *2.

The considerably more relevant fact would be: How many households will be pushed over the 30 percent affordable housing line (which is a mathematical construct defined as, Rent/Mortgage + Insurance + Taxes + Utilities <=30 percent Household Income) by an increase of $60/year PLUS any other bond/levy property tax increases including those that AUTOMATICALLY occur?

5. “The increased taxes on property owners would raise the cost of housing for many" *2.

More likely for EVERY household. This issue is easily addressed by REBATING the Housing Bond INCREASE for every household that qualifies for PUBLIC HOUSING, i.e., <=80 percent MFI.

Metro, like Portland, has REFUSED WITHOUT EXPLANATION to REBATE the Housing Bond INCREASE for every household that qualifies for PUBLIC HOUSING i.e., <=80 percent MFI.

6. “Metro is not a housing agency. Instead, it would distribute the bulk of the funds to other agencies — HOME FORWARD and its equivalents — across the metro region" *2.

Home Forward is a disingenuous, obfuscatory euphemism for the PUBLIC HOUSING Authority of Multnomah County. This quasi-governmental agency remains indefensibly under the direct control of the mayor Portland. PHAMC subserviently obeys mayor Wheeler’s policy of Targeted, UNLIMITED Neighborhood Concentration of PUBLIC HOUSING allowing Wheeler to load the neighborhoods of his choosing with up to 100 percent PUBLIC HOUSING.

For example, my Portsmouth neighborhood has more than 30 percent Public Housing Clients and Wheeler is adding more. By contrast, Ted Wheeler’s neighborhood has ZERO Public Housing Clients. This is in direct contravention to recent court rulings upholding the Fair Housing Act of 1968 which requires Equitable Distribution of Public Housing.

Metro’s designation of PHAMC as a recipient of its bond funds is a de facto acceptance of mayor Wheeler’s aborrhent and discredited PUBLIC HOUSING policy.

7. Metro will use their Public Housing Bond money to support Portland mayor Ted Wheeler’s:

A. Refusal to make public meaningful, accurate, complete and timely Public Housing Statistical Data in order to maintain his policy of NIMBY favoritism and Economic Segregation.

• Without meaningful, accurate, complete and timely Public Housing Statistical Data *3 there can NOT be justifiable housing goals based on inventory and need by economic constituency and neighborhood location.
• Without justifiable goals there can NOT be a defensible strategy to achieve those goals.
• Without a defensible strategy there can NOT be valid metrics to assess the progress of that strategy.
• Without valid metrics there is NO ACCOUNTABILITY.
• Without Accountability Portland’s mayor Wheeler and Metro will continue to make Public Housing policy decisions based on self-inflicted ignorance, political convenience and extortion.

B. Refusal to opt-in to SAFMR, HUD’s Small Area Fair Market Rents program which redistributes Section 8 voucher amounts to promote their use in more upscale neighborhood’s like Wheelers and reduce concentration in low income neighborhoods.

C. Refusal to establish a 5 percent minimum and a 15 percent maximum Public Housing GOAL for every neighborhood in Multnomah county.

E. Refusal to turn over control of the Public Housing Authority of MULTNOMAH COUNTY to the MULTNOMAH COUNTY COMMISSION or METRO.

If Metro wants to expand is political portfolio into the Public Housing arena it MUST first do ALL of the following:

A. Demonstrate that is knows the difference between PUBLIC *1 and AFFORDABLE *4 housing.

B. Take control of the Public Housing Authorities of Multnomah, Clackamas and Washington counties and consolidate them into the Metro Regional Public Housing Authority.

C. Gather the required PUBLIC HOUSING STATISTICAL DATA *3.

D. Agree to return a portion of any housing or other bonds that increase property taxes to all households that qualify for Public Housing i.e. <=80% MFI.

E. Opt-in to SAFMR, HUD’s Small Area Fair Market Rents program

F. Establish a 5 percent minimum and a 15 percent maximum Public Housing GOAL for every neighborhood in Multnomah, Washington and Clackamas counties.

G. Commit to a policy of Equitable Distribution of Public Housing.

If Metro does ALL of these then its mission creep will be justified and I will vote for and support Metro’s Housing Bond and tell my Ellmyer Report readers to do likewise.

— Richard Ellmyer
North Portland political activist for 43 years.
Author of more stories on the politics, players and policies of Public Housing in Oregon over the last seventeen years than all other journalists and elected officials combined.
Author of The Ellmyer Report, a newsletter that informs, educates and influences on public policy. Occasionally distributed to more than a quarter of million readers in Oregon and beyond. Facebook, Portland Politics Plus.
Contributor: Patch.com

PS. "A Hillsboro-based developer and a political consultant have registered an anti-bond PAC, called 'Affordable Housing for WHO?'" *2 A more appropriate name would be, "Public Housing WHERE?"

Joseph J. Keizur can be contacted here: info@affordableoregon.org

SOURCES

*1. PUBLIC HOUSING is a class of housing defined as, Means Test (<=80 percent MFI) + Government Subsidy (any government any type) + rental agreement.

*2. "Metro Went Big on Its Bond Measure to Fund Portland-Area Affordable Housing. Now It Faces a Fight." By Rachel Monahan, for Willamette Week.

*3. The following are the minimum fields per client record necessary for a data based public dialogue and defensible public housing policy.

1. Client income

2. Client size of household

3. Client gender

4. Client age

5. Client location by neighborhood or census tract in suburban and rural areas

6. Type of government subsidy e.g. section 8, landlord tax reduction, publicly owned property etc.

7. Value of annual or monthly government subsidy

8. Client race

9. Does Client live in Affordable Housing? Most Public Housing *1 clients do NOT live in Affordable Housing *4.

*4. AFFORDABLE HOUSING is a mathematical construct defined as, Rent/Mortgage + Insurance + Taxes + Utilities <=30 percent Household Income. EVERY house, condo and apartment is AFFORDABLE to someone.