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The Affordable Housing Thread
I'd like to tackle this topic in two parts.
#1: BUILDING IT.
How can Portland increase its supply of affordable housing? What approaches are being used in other cities that could work here? What unique approaches should be considered here that might not have been tried elsewhere? I hope we all agree that overbuilding would lead to economic ruin. I hope we all agree that a "build whatever, wherever" strategy is foolish as well. And sprawl is absolutely not the answer here.
#2: FINDING IT.
How does one find affordable housing that already exists or is on the way? This is particularly challenging with buildings that have a few affordable units among mostly upper market rate or luxury housing. Example: 20% of the units in the upcoming Sky3 Place tower will be priced for those earning 80% of Median Family Income or less (though that still puts studios that look like they'll be around 400 sq/ft at $870/mo and up. Yikes). There's no mention of affordable housing on their website. It's common for buildings with affordable units to not promote them at all. Museum Place, downtown, has around 20% affordable units mixed among market rate and luxury apartments, but there's no mention of them on their website. I think the Skylab tower at the Burnside Bridgehead is going to have a few affordable units too, but again, that info is hard to find.
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