Portland Affordable Housing: Council Considering Asking Voters to Approve Bond Measure

The Portland City Council will decide on Thursday whether to ask voters in November to approve a $258 million bond measure to fund affordable housing.

City officials say the move is necessary because Portland already has a documented need for 24,000 affordable housing units for low income families and that while the city has been growing, at the same time low and middle income families are getting squeezed out.

According to the city, last year Portland experienced the highest average rent increase in the nation - more than 15 percent overall - and a full-time worker earning minimum wage needs to spend more than 100 percent of their earnings to adored an average new rental unit.

On top of that, the city cites the growing homeless issue in Portland - with around 4,000 people including women, children, and seniors sleeping on the streets, in a shelter, or in a vehicle every night.

If approved, the bond measure would add about 42 cents per $1,000 of assessed value for homeowners.

The bond measure would disappear after 20 years.

The council is expected to vote on the measure at the session Thursday afternoon.