Neighborhood Partnerships

With the help of Oregon’s Individual Development Account (IDA) Initiative, low income Oregonians are given the tools to build their financial security through financial education classes and matched savings incentives.  With the money saved, IDA participants purchase a major asset such as a home, post-secondary education, a small business, or assistive technology that helps them secure employment. These assets help build economic stability and put money back into Oregon’s economy.

William Sherfield is one such Oregonian. He enrolled in Umpqua CDC’s Dream$avers program two years ago. Due to his medical issues, William needs his wheelchair most of the time. William expressed to the Dream$avers staff his desire to get back to work and be out among people. In order to accomplish this goal, he needed a vehicle that could accommodate his wheelchair.

Before the Dream$avers program, if William wanted to get around he had to have someone with him to set up a makeshift ramp so he could maneuver his electric wheelchair in and out of their vehicle.  While William was participating in the Dream$avers program, his brother purchased a septic tank cleaning business, and wanted William to be the one to take care of the books.  The one barrier was that the business didn’t have a vehicle that could transport William.

Thanks to the Dream$avers IDA Program, William was able to save for and purchase a handicap accessible van.  “This allows me to go and work and be independent,” says William.  “My brother just bought a business and is going to hire me to do his books, so this is going to help me and my brother, isn’t that great!” William is now totally self-sufficient, employed and enjoying his new-found independence.

“I would like to thank everyone for what this has done for me and everyone I know.  So thank you very much.” William’s story is a great example of how the IDA program can help Oregonians achieve their goals!

While in Washington, D.C. for the National Low Income Housing Coalition‘s (NLIHC) Annual Conference, The Oregon Housing Alliance won NLIHC’s first ever  State & Local Organizing Award for our work in 2009, an honor we shared with Oregon’s Community Alliance of Tenants.

DeDe Carney, NLIHC Board Member, poses with Janet Byrd, Executive Director of Neighborhood Partnerships and Chair of the Oregon Housing Alliance, and Dung Ho, CAT Staff Member, after awarding them the State and Local Organizing Award.

George Moses, Board Chair, NLIHC, Janet Byrd,  Alison McIntosh, Project Associate for Neighborhood Partnerships, and Sheila Crowley, Executive Director, NLIHC.

Photos courtesy of Jamie Rose Photography.

Higher prices in the rental market continue to force Oregon families to choose between paying rent, putting food on the table, and paying utility bills.  A national study reports that the cost of renting an apartment in Oregon has increased again, an alarming trend for a state with unemployment at 10.6% and whose number of homeless children attending schools has more than doubled since 2003.

According to the report released today, the Housing Wage for Oregon is $14.93. The Housing Wage is the hourly wage a family must earn – working 40 hours a week, 52 weeks a year – to be able to afford rent and utilities in the private housing market. The average fair market rent for a two-bedroom apartment in Oregon is $776—a number that has increased 27.5% since 2000. These increases continue despite high unemployment and foreclosures. As rents continue to increase, more and more Oregon families find themselves homeless for the first time.

“Every year it is becoming more difficult for hard working Oregonians to find decent homes they can afford,” said Bill Hall, Lincoln County Commissioner. “In the past year, rural Oregon has seen huge increases to the number of children and families experiencing homelessness. If we want kids to succeed in school, or parents to succeed in the workplace, people need a place to call home.”

The report, Out of Reach 2010, was jointly released by the National Low Income Housing Coalition (NLIHC), a Washington, DC-based housing advocacy group, and Oregon’s Housing Alliance. The report provides the Housing Wage and other data for every state, metropolitan area and county in the country.

“Housing gives people an opportunity to build better lives,” said Cathey Briggs, Executive Director of Oregon Opportunity Network, “And yet an estimated 45% of renters in Oregon don’t earn enough income to afford a two-bedroom unit at the Fair Market Rent.”  Fair market rents are a federal statistic for determining market rents.

“The on-going recession and increasing rate of foreclosures in Oregon continues to make it more difficult for hard working Oregonians to find a safe, decent and affordable place to call home,” said Janet Byrd, Chair of the Housing Alliance, “The Housing Alliance will call on the legislature in 2011 to help all Oregonians have a safe place to call home.  Over the past year, we’ve seen significant increases in the number of families with children who’ve become homeless.  All too often these days, people are forced to choose between rent and food.”

The typical renter in Oregon earns $12.84, which is $2.09 less than the hourly wage needed to afford a modest unit.

Working at the minimum wage, $8.40 in Oregon, a family in Oregon must have 1.8 wage earners working full-time—or one full-time earner working 71 hours—to afford a modest two-bedroom apartment.

This year, Oregon is the twenty-sixth most expensive state in the nation for renters. The National Housing Wage is $18.44 in 2010.

Oregon’s unemployment rates remain high—10.6% statewide.  Many of Oregon’s counties have even higher unemployment:  Crook County’s unemployment is the highest in the state at 17.9%, Harney County is second with 16.1%. Columbia, Curry, Deschutes, Douglas, Grant, Jefferson, Josephine, Klamath and Linn counties all have unemployment rates above 13%.

For additional information, visit http://www.nlihc.org/oor/oor2010/.

Want to find data on your local community?  Download a PDF here.

You can download a PDF of the media advisory here.

On April 10, 2010, Neighborhood Partnerships staff traveled to Washington, D.C. for the National Low Income Housing Coalition’s (NLIHC) Annual Conference.  We were kept busy– we won an award, attended a meeting of other statewide coalitions, learned about changes to federal policies related to affordable housing, and met with our congressional delegation.

First up – our award! The Oregon Housing Alliance won the first ever NLIHC State & Local Organizing Award for our work in 2009, an honor which we shared with Oregon’s Community Alliance of Tenants.  Read all about it here!  Senator Jeff Merkley, who is quickly becoming the go-to-Senator on affordable housing issues, also spoke at the conference the day we received our award.  Senator Merkley called for significant new investments in housing through new vouchers and the National Housing Trust Fund.

We learned about federal legislation related to affordable housing:  The continued campaign to fund the National Housing Trust Fund is in high gear.  The National Housing Trust Fund would bring nearly $15 million to Oregon to serve very low income households! Read more here. Potential changes at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development through their Transforming Rental Assistance initiative are also moving forward; and we learned more about what was included in the President’s Budget for housing.

We also visited Capitol Hill to meet with our Oregon delegation.

While on Capitol Hill, we talked to our delegation about what’s going on in Oregon related to preservation of affordable rental housing and federal rent subsidies; how we hope to protect tenants living in foreclosed properties; and what changes to federal law would help us work more effectively here in Oregon.

Janet Byrd from Neighborhood Partnerships and Dung Ho from the Community Alliance of Tenants receive Senator Jeff Merkley’s congratulations on winning the State and Local Organizing award at the National Low Income Housing Coalition conference in DC.

The Housing Alliance and Neighborhood Partnerships are pleased to announce that we’ve been selected to receive the National Low Income Housing Coalition’s (NLIHC) first annual State and Local Organizing Award! We are sharing this honor with another Oregon organization, the Community Alliance of Tenants.

We’ll be presented with this award at the NLIHC’s Annual Conference in Washington, DC on April 13, 2010.   The Alliance was selected for this honor due to the strength of our campaign to win the statewide 2009 Housing Opportunity Bill, which creates a dedicated, ongoing source of revenue for multifamily housing, homeless prevention, affordable homeownership opportunities, and other housing needs.

The bill increases the state’s existing document recording fee by $15, which is expected to generate as much as $20 million per biennium in new funds. Check out Janet’s post right after we won the Housing Opportunity Bill discussing the many contributions you all made to the victory, and also our accomplishments for the past four years.

We are very excited to win this award, and congratulate our co-recipient, the Community Alliance of Tenants. If you want to be part of the ongoing work of the Housing Alliance, we’d love to hear from you.