Neighborhood Partnerships

Today Neighborhood Partnerships is taking part in a nationally coordinated release of the Corporation for Enterprise Development’s Assets and Opportunity Scorecard. The Oregon Scorecard builds on a family financial resilience framework developed by CFED that looks at ways we as a state can act to support the five steps to financial security – Learn, Earn, Invest, Save, and Protect.

The Scorecard highlights the need for us to take action. Oregon received 1 B, 3 C’s and a D based on our data, and noted both long term and short term opportunities to make improvements.

The Oregon Legislature will re-convene in February for a short, one month session. While the budget will be the big topic of the session, we hope to be able to make improvements on one of the Scorecard recommendations and also make a difference for Oregon homeowners facing foreclosure.

Neighborhood Partnerships and the Housing Alliance will be working in parallel with other advocates in an effort to pass bills that will:

• Require mediation – stop preventable foreclosures: Mediation should be required before finalization of a foreclosure, to provide homeowners and lenders the opportunity to gather information and make timely decisions regarding alternatives to foreclosure.
• Provide “Dual-Track” protection: Homeowners should be protected from foreclosure during the time they are actively engaged in negotiations to modify their loans. We hope to increase transparency and accountability in loss mitigation negotiations.
• Set and enforce servicer standards and regulations: Servicers should adhere to basic minimum standards of good faith and fair dealing. The pending national settlement between the states’ Attorneys General and the 5 federally regulated banks may include these concepts, but state law would still be necessary to cover local banks and to provide an enforcement mechanism.

You can help! Call your legislator today and ask them to take action in February to stop preventable foreclosures and hold servicers to a high standard. And, join us in February as we visit legislators to share our stories. Contact jbyrd@neighborhoodpartnerships.org if you’re able to make a trip to Salem in February.

Not sure who your legislator is? Look here http://www.leg.state.or.us/findlegsltr/.

Click here to listen to a news story on the scorecard release.

Oregonians facing the loss of their homes need clear and accurate information about their rights, obligations and the foreclosure process. Where possible, alternatives to foreclosure ought to be fairly considered. When there is no viable alternative, the foreclosure process ought to be conducted with adequate notice and transparent process. The Housing Alliance has adopted the following principles:

1. Mediation to stop preventable foreclosures – Mediation should be required before finalization of a foreclosure, to provide homeowners and lenders the opportunity to make timely decisions regarding alternatives to foreclosure.
2. Dual-track protection – Homeowners should be protected from foreclosure during the time they are actively engaged in loan modification or loss mitigation negotiations. Loss mitigation negotiations ought to be fair and transparent.
3. Servicer standards – Loan servicers should adhere to basic minimum standards of good faith and fair dealing, and should be held accountable for violations of those standards.

To lend your voice to this effort, please contact Janet Byrd at jbyrd@neighborhoodpartnerships.org. We’ll let you know of hearings and other advocacy opportunities as they arise in February. In the meantime, contact your legislator to let them know these issues matter to you, and that you want to see action in February.

Neighborhood Partnerships and the Housing Alliance know that everyone deserves a safe place to call home. Unfortunately today, too many of our neighbors and families are sleeping in cars, on couches or outdoors.

The Oregonian recently published two articles about homelessness in our community—first, Monday’s editorial, which calls for community actions around homelessness in the wake of the Occupy Portland movement being evicted from their downtown camp; and second, a story in Sunday’s Oregonian about a local teen who has been surviving on the streets for several years while also battling addiction. These stories echo our own experiences and messages as housing advocates.

Monday’s editorial asks the people of Portland to “put our arms” around those experiencing homelessness. It sounds a lot like what we (and many others) have been saying for years—that everyone deserves a safe, stable, affordable place to call home. We know that our communities are better and stronger when everyone has a place to call home. We also know that homelessness is a solvable problem. We’re not saying it will be easy, but we are saying we know how to do it—if we make the right choices and find the political will, we can end homelessness together.

We were pleased to see this response from the Editorial Board, as well as an understanding that what we really need are permanent solutions. While shelters are an important way to help people come in out of the cold and stay safe, they simply manage the problem. We don’t begrudge dollars spent on shelter—we know it’s critical to have people inside where they can be warm and safe, especially during winter months. However we also know that permanent housing, plus the supports people need to address barriers and create pathways out of poverty is the only way to end homelessness. All too often, it seems as if we’re forced to take one avenue at the expense of the other.

Sunday’s portrait in the Oregonian of Alec Bates is a great example of what should be happening. While the Oregonian’s portrait of Bates only showed glimpses of the people that helped him along the way, it is clear that Bates met many organizations and individuals that made a difference in his journey. He highlights one—Outside In—that helped him find housing and the supportive services he needed to maintain his housing. His story also highlights the need for more addictions and mental health treatment, so that as people are ready to make changes, the right doors are open to them.

Then came this morning’s article by Steve Duin, and this quote from Candidate for Portland City Council Steve Novick: “The occupation movement is helping some of us unlearn our learned helplessness.” We, not just people in Portland, but across the US have for far too long been helpless in the face of homelessness. We’ve seen it as a problem only affecting a few, without recognizing that far too many of us are one economic disaster from sleeping in our cars. We’ve seen it as a problem affecting “those people,” without recognizing that people in this country rise and fall as one. It’s time to unlearn our helplessness and understand that not only can we solve homelessness, but it does affect and impact us all. Our struggles and fate are tied together as one in this city and state.

Today, organizations and people all across the city, the state and the country are working hard to end homelessness. Every day we call on our elected officials to help us in our work. Now is the time to put our arms around the problem of homelessness, to declare it unacceptable, and to commit to solving this problem. We can do better. We can recognize that our fate is connected to the fate of our neighbors, especially those neighbors without a roof over their heads.

In the July 22, 2011 edition of Street Roots, we recap the 2011 Legislative Session for housing. Purchase a copy today from a Street Roots vendor downtown, or read the article here. The full text is below:

The State Legislature has been adjourned for over two weeks now, and we’re a little more than two weeks into the new state budget. The dust is settling, but the full impact of the work of the Legislature on Oregonians struggling to make ends meet won’t be known for many months.
We all need a safe, stable place to call home. Our state and our communities are stronger and better when everyone has access to opportunity, which comes from having a place to call home.

The Oregon Housing Alliance—a coalition of organizations from across the state concerned about the lack of affordable housing—has worked along with other housing advocates since 2004 to secure the resources we need to create strong communities across Oregon. The Oregon Housing Alliance made progress this past legislative session, but it was not nearly enough. Our victories were important: we secured funding to help preserve existing affordable housing across Oregon; protected tools such as the Oregon Affordable Housing Tax Credit and others to help build new affordable housing; we protected funds for emergency rent assistance; we helped pass protections for tenants living in foreclosed properties; and we worked in coalition with partners to prevent the worst of the cuts to the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program.

Despite these small gains, this Legislative session was a disaster for low income Oregonians. The prolonged recession and the continuing shortage of affordable housing have left too many of our neighbors at risk of or experiencing homelessness. Too many of our families and neighbors are struggling to keep both a roof over their head and food on the table.

Devastating cuts were made to essential services and supports, and we know that the impacts of these choices will hit hardest and be hardest felt by those who are already hurting. While we made progress on many fronts, overall we have stepped backwards this session. Protecting the most vulnerable among us and maintaining a strong safety net is one of the core functions of our government. The Legislature should make decisions that uphold and advance this purpose.

Instead, the Legislature made a choice in the 2011 session to pass a budget for human services and housing that will barely keep emergency services afloat during the next two years. The decisions made will have far reaching and very real consequences that will include thousands of Oregonians unable to access emergency rent assistance or affordable housing, or the supportive services they need to get back to work. When the Legislature returns in 2012 and 2013, we need them to be ready to make choices that will put all of our options—including new revenue—on the table, and we need them to make the best choices for our state.

We need your voice and your help in the coming months to ensure that this happens. We know how to solve the crisis of homelessness and the lack of affordable housing. The solution begins when housing advocates begin to speak louder.

We must do everything we can to build up our voices, to work across issues, and to help legislators understand the impacts of their decisions on the men, women, and children in their districts who need the opportunity that stable housing provides in order to fully engage in their life and their community.

Over the next year, three years and five years, we must work to expand the voices of those concerned about the lack of safe, stable and affordable housing for all Oregonians. We must document the effects of the economic recession, and the effects of the 2011-2013 budget on our neighbors passed by the Legislature this session, and share what’s happening with decision makers. Housing advocates must speak louder and do more to ensure everyone has a place to call home. If we’re going to build a movement across Oregon that speaks out for our communities and our neighbors, we have to shift the conversation in our state from “we can’t” to “we must”, and we need to talk to our neighbors and communities about our vision of what we want our home towns and our state to be, rather than about the budget and the deficit. We can solve the problems we face. We can make sure everyone has a safe, stable place to call home, and the opportunity that comes with it.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: May 3, 2011

For More Information:
Janet Byrd                                                        Alison McIntosh
(503) 516-4698                                                (503) 816-2882

RENTS CONTINUE TO RISE DESPITE HIGH UNEMPLOYMENT, FORECLOSURES, AND PROLONGED RECESSION

Oregon’s high cost of housing highlighted in 2011 report

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%.

“The on-going recession, high unemployment and continued wave 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, “In Oregon, we believe everyone needs a place to call home. As we work together to solve the current budget crisis, the Legislature needs to prioritize providing basic needs to those most impacted by the ongoing recession.”

According to the report released today by the National Low Income Housing Coalition (NLIHC), the average rent and the income required to afford those rents continue to rise 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 Rocky Johnson, Executive Director of Community Action Team in Columbia County. “This year, someone making minimum wage in Columbia County would have to work nearly twelve hours a day, seven days a week just to be able to afford a place to call home.”

“Hardworking people should be able to afford housing and still have enough money for groceries and other basic necessities,” said Cyndy Cook, Executive Director of Housing Works in Redmond, Oregon.  “Unfortunately, high rates of foreclosure are contributing to low vacancy rates putting upward pressure on the rental market and creating challenges for low income Oregonians to find affordable rental housing.  In the Bend area, we’ve seen increases in rent as high as 18% over the last 12 months—making it difficult for families to find safe, stable places 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 data for every state, metropolitan area and county in the country. The report also defines a “Housing Wage”, which for Oregon is $15.81, or nearly double Oregon’s minimum wage. 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 $822—a number that has increased 35% since 2000.

This year, Oregon is the twenty-ninth most expensive state in the nation for renters. The National Housing Wage is $18.46 in 2011.

For additional information, visit http://www.nlihc.org/oor/oor2011/.

Click here to download a PDF of this media advisory.

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The Housing Alliance brings together advocates, local governments, housing authorities, community development corporations, environmentalists, service providers, business interests and all others dedicated to increasing the resources available to meet our housing needs to support a common statewide legislative and policy agenda. To find out more about the Housing Alliance, go to: http://www.oregonhousingalliance.org/

Every year, the National Low Income Housing Coalition releases a report called Out of Reach. This report shows what it costs to rent a modest two bedroom apartment in every state, and shows what a renter would have to earn to afford an apartment at Fair Market Rent.  This year, the NLIHC is featuring State Partners on their blog, and how we use Out of Reach in our advocacy.  Alison McIntosh wrote for the blog today – check it out here: http://bit.ly/lGqKqg or read the text below. Out of Reach will be released on Monday, May 2nd at 9:30 a.m. PST. Stay tuned!

Neighborhood Partnerships and the Oregon Housing Alliance are State Partners in Oregon for the National Low Income Housing Coalition (www.nlihc.org), and we are excited about the upcoming release of the Out of Reach report.  Out of Reach is a great way for us to gain access to local data that can paint a picture of the scope of the problem faced by renters in Oregon who are in need of a safe, stable place to call home.

In the past, we’ve used Out of Reach in many different ways:

First, we use the Out of Reach data to help us with our County Need Sheets.  Our County Need Sheets detail the need for housing in each of Oregon’s thirty-six counties, and are a key tool for us to use as we talk to our State Legislature about the need for housing in their communities.  For example, each sheet talks about the Fair Market Rent for that community, as well as types of occupations and their incomes for people in those communities.

When we go to visit Legislators and educate them about the need for a continuum of responses to the housing crisis in our state – from homelessness to affordable rental housing to home ownership options – we use these sheets to talk about their specific communities.  We also give them to our members to talk about the need in their community, and we’ve found these sheets really helpful and very effective tools for legislators.

We are also big fans of something called Social Math here at Neighborhood Partnerships – it’s a way to make numbers more understandable and compelling to your average Legislator or reader.  For example, Out of Reach tells us that a worker earning minimum wage in Oregon must work 71 hours a week to afford a two-bedroom at the Fair Market Rent.  On our fact sheets, we say: “A worker earning minimum wage in Oregon had to work more than ten hours a day, seven days a week just to afford a two bedroom apartment in Oregon.”

Second, we also use Out of Reach to release media advisories and try to gather some local press on the high cost of housing in our communities. In the past, we’ve issued press releases, and have gained some media attention. This year, we’re planning a media advisory, and in addition, we will also release it on our blog and spread the word through Facebook.

We’re thankful to have partners like NLIHC who can help us with access to the Out of Reach data which we don’t have the expertise (or time!) to gather and analyze ourselves.   We’re looking forward to using it to highlight the need for affordable housing across Oregon.

We all need a safe, stable place to call home.  Unfortunately, all across Oregon, too many hardworking families, seniors and people with disabilities are at risk of losing their homes because the contracts that guarantee their affordable rents are ending. We cannot afford to lose this precious resource and allow our neighbors to become homeless.

All across Oregon, properties were built with assistance from Oregon Housing and Community Services Department (HCS), the US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), and the US Department of Agriculture’s Rural Development program (RD). A combination of subsidies makes the units affordable to people on fixed incomes or even no income. As contracts for these rental subsidies expire, this housing is put at-risk, and action is needed to keep this housing affordable. We know that over 3,500 units across the state are at-risk of being lost if we don’t act now.

The Oregon Housing Preservation Project, which is run by the Network for Oregon Affordable Housing, or NOAH is working to preserve this valuable resource. Through funding from the State of Oregon, the MacArthur Foundation, Meyer Memorial Trust, Oregon Community Foundation, the Collins Foundation and several banks, the Oregon Housing Preservation Project has created a loan fund that helps non-profit organizations acquire the properties quickly when they are put on the market, and then seek permanent financing to rehabilitate and keep the properties and their federal rent subsidies in Oregon.

Preserving this housing makes sense.  The Oregon Housing Preservation Project knows that we can’t make new units fast enough or locate them as close to transit, jobs and amenities such as schools or medical care as the existing homes are.  One of every three people that lives in this housing is a senior or a person with a disability.

Oregon was a pioneer in using a combination of federal, state and local resources plus on-going federal rent assistance in the 1980’s and 1990’s to build housing in all corners of Oregon to meet community needs.  Now, the Oregon Housing Preservation Project has built outstanding partnerships through Housing and Community Services (HCS) to preserve this housing. Other partners include Enterprise Community Partners, the Community Alliance of Tenants, and the City of Portland’s Housing Bureau. Outcomes to date are impressive and speak to the commitment of partners involved in this effort.  Neighborhood Partnerships also is a partner in this effort – helping to create and maintain a database of properties affected by this problem.

In partnership with the Housing Alliance, the Oregon Housing Preservation Project is supporting a request in the Governor’s budget to provide $10 million in Lottery Backed Bonds to help fund the preservation of these properties. We have the tools to preserve this valuable resource, but need additional resources.

We all need a safe place to call home.  Our communities are better and stronger when everyone has access to the opportunity that a safe, stable home provides.  Neighborhood Partnerships is pleased to partner with NOAH and the Oregon Housing Preservation Project to maintain this important effort and help make sure these families and neighbors continue to have a safe place to call home.

February 14, 2011 is Valentine’s Day and Oregon’s birthday! Demonstrate your love for Oregon by joining the Oregon Housing Alliance and Oregon Thrives for “Have a Heart Day” in Salem.  We all have a stake in addressing the problems our communities and neighbors are facing as a result of the recession. Please join us to speak to our legislators about the problems we face and how the prolonged recession has left our neighbors at risk of foreclosure or even homelessness.

We’re joining with Oregon Thrives and will meet in Salem at the State Capitol to thank and support our legislators for continuing to “Have a Heart.”  We all understand that housing gives people an opportunity to build better lives and this is our chance to talk to those who represent us in Salem that share these values, but may need a little encouragement.

We’ll convene at 8 am for coffee and rolls, pick up legislative materials, and fill out valentines. We’ll begin promptly at 8:30 for a brief welcome, and a review of legislative materials for meetings. Then we’ll receive expert advice on how to express ourselves effectively in the meetings, and we’ll practice our message of the day to make sure we’re heard loud and clear.

For the rest of the morning and the afternoon, we’ll be sharing our values and vision for Oregon with our state legislators.  We’ll have a room open during the visits for check-in, reports, filling out thank you cards, or to just catch your breath.

Come join the Oregon Housing Alliance and Oregon Thrives for Have a Heart Day on February 14, 2011.

RSVP today to Alison, amcintosh@neighborhoodpartnerships.org, or 503.226.3001 x107.  Need a ride to Salem? Let us know.

The Housing Alliance, as well as Neighborhood Partnerships, believes that we all have a stake in addressing the problems our communities and neighbors are facing.  In Oregon, we’ve always pulled together to overcome hardship, and we believe in protecting those most impacted by the economic downturn.

In too many communities across Oregon, our neighbors are struggling to pay the rent or their mortgage.  The Housing Alliance knows that housing gives people an opportunity to build better lives, and that our communities are stronger when people have a safe, stable place to call home.  In 2011, the Legislature can act to prevent more people from falling into homelessness by prioritizing the basic needs of those most impacted by the recession.

While the problems our state is facing may seem daunting, there is good news.  We know how to solve the problems we are facing, and we’ve done it before.  We also know that how we respond to these problems will affect how our state recovers.   The Housing Alliance and its members will be calling on Legislators in 2011 to continue to invest in proven programs and solutions that meet these basic needs.

You can join us – either as a Housing Alliance member, or on our Lobby Day.  We’ll be joining with Oregon Thrives in Salem on Monday, February 14th, for Have a Heart Day. Be sure to mark your calendars now! Questions or to RSVP please e-mail Alison.

Our agenda for 2011 includes:

Continue investment in affordable housing that meets critical needs in our communities;

Increase the Emergency Housing Account (EHA);

Preserve existing affordable housing so we don’t fall further behind;

Restructure the Oregon Affordable Housing Tax Credit (OAHTC);

Maintain state enabling legislation for local property tax abatement programs;

Update definitions for the Farmworker Housing Tax Credit;

Continue and extend protections for tenants in foreclosed properties;

Protect tenant access to utilities;

Secure and preserve public subsidy during foreclosure proceedings;

Expand allowable master and short form documents;

Support resident purchases of manufactured home parks; and

Recognize the problem of hate crimes against people who are homeless.

Interested in joining the Housing Alliance or learning more about our agenda? E-mail Alison for details.

On August 26, the state of Oregon received another revenue forecast with more bad news.  This revenue forecast indicated the state has an additional $377 million less than expected for the current biennium (2009–2011).  In addition to the $563 million less than expected in May 2010, the state budget is now $940 million short in this biennium after the legislature made cuts to programs and increased taxes through Measures 66 and 67.

Misery loves company, and the state economists are now expecting the revenue shortfall for 2011–2013 will be $3.3 billion—much, much more than the $2.5 billion expected as late as May.  We’ve already experienced cuts to services and state government—now the question is how much will legislators and the Governor ask us to cut before they begin to consider other options?

Further cuts to the general fund budget—which primarily funds schools, public safety, and human services—will be disastrous for the state.  Cuts to housing and human services lead to increased need for emergency services.  A family just scraping by with $418 in cash assistance a month from TANF who then receives a cut of $25 or $50 often ends up at the local food pantry to feed their kids, relying on emergency rent assistance, or may even become homeless and end up in a shelter. These emergency services are more expensive in the short (and long) term than prevention, but state government instead chooses to cut these services, rather than make difficult choices about increasing revenue.

The Governor has asked agencies to prepare budgets with cuts up to 25% for the 2011–2013 biennium.  For Department of Human Services, this will mean additional cuts to services for seniors, people with disabilities and families who can’t make ends meet in this tough economic climate.  It’s time to ask ourselves what the role of government is, and what kind of state do we want to live in.

It’s time to ask ourselves what the role of our public structures are, and how much we value and depend on these structures.  And if we value them, what can we do to ensure they continue?

It’s time for Oregonians to start talking about what public structures we value, and whether we’re willing to pay for those public structures. It’s also time for the Governor and the Legislature to start talking about revenue solutions to a revenue problem—we can’t cut our way out of this budget hole. Instead we need to look at our revenue streams—tax loopholes, tax credits, the kicker, among others.

The Governor and his reset commission have labeled this a “dark decade” of budget deficits and recession. While the revenue forecast is bleak, this is also an opportunity to engage Oregonians in a conversation about what the role of government is, and what they want the state to look like.  We’re interested in a state that believes in taking care of its neighbors, investing in its future, and makes smart choices about where to spend its revenue.