Portland City Council Housing & Permitting Committee 04/07/26

4:18Councilor Novick, can you hear us online?

4:23I can indeed.

4:24Thanks, we can hear you as well.

4:50Good afternoon.

4:52I am going to call the meeting of the Housing and Permitting Committee to order.

4:57It is Tuesday, April 7th at 2 PM.

4:59Diego, please call the roll.

5:01Good afternoon.

5:02Pirtle-Guiney?

5:03Here.

5:04Koyama Lane?

5:05Here.

5:05Novick?

5:07Here.

5:08Here.

5:09Here.

5:10Here.

5:11Claire, can you please read the statement of conduct?

5:14Good afternoon and welcome to the meeting of the Housing and Permitting Committee.

5:17To testify before this committee in person or virtually, you must sign up in advance on the committee agenda at portland.gov/council/agenda/housingandpermittingcommittee or by calling 311.

5:28Registration for virtual testimony closes 1 hour prior to the meeting.

5:31In-person testifiers must sign up before the agenda item is heard.

5:34If public testimony will be taken on an item, individuals may testify for 3 minutes unless the chair states otherwise.

5:40Your microphone will be muted when your time is over.

5:43The chair preserves order.

5:44Disruptive conduct such as shouting, refusing to conclude your testimony when your time is up, or interrupting others' testimony or committee deliberations will not be allowed.

5:52If you cause a disruption, a warning will be given.

5:54Further disruption will result in ejection from the meeting.

5:57Anyone who fails to leave once ejected is subject to arrest for trespass.

6:00Additionally, the committee may take a short recess and reconvene virtually.

6:04Your testimony should address the matter being considered.

6:06When testifying, please state your name for the record.

6:08If you are a lobbyist, identify the organization you represent.

6:11And finally, virtual testifiers should unmute themselves when the clerk calls your name.

6:14Thank you.

6:16Thank you, Claire.

6:17All right, and again, welcome everybody to the first meeting of the Housing and Permitting Committee.

6:22So I have a couple of opening remarks.

6:25Uh, I am really looking forward to working with my colleagues on this committee.

6:29We all know that the work in front of us is both Councilmember Herbold.

6:32Thank you, Mayor.

6:32This is a very important committee.

6:32Housing and homelessness is a crisis in our city.

6:32The need for affordable housing is significant and urgent.

6:34And across Portland, we're hearing clearly that people want us to make progress on housing, whether that's helping people keep— helping keep people housed, supporting those experiencing homelessness, or making it easier to build the housing that our city needs.

6:48This committee reflects a broader approach to that challenge.

6:51In addressing housing and homelessness, we'll be taking on permitting, zoning, and land use decisions as well.

6:56Those systems play a major role in whether housing actually gets built and how quickly.

7:01So bringing this work together in one place is an important step.

7:04As chair, my goal is to make this a productive and collaborative space, and I want to ensure that each councilor has the opportunity to bring forward ideas and priorities, and that we are using our time here to move work forward and not let it stall.

7:17I also want us to be thoughtful about how we pace our work.

7:20We have a responsibility to move important items, particularly land use and permitting decisions, without creating unnecessary delays, while still making space for discussion and good policy development.

7:32And importantly, I want to stay grounded in what we hear from Portlanders.

7:36This work doesn't just happen in this room.

7:38It is shaped by the experience of people that we represent across the city, and I intend to keep that connection front and center.

7:45Because this is a new committee with new members, we'll also be spending some time getting oriented to the work already underway and making sure we have a shared understanding of where we're headed.

7:54So more on that to come.

7:56Before we get started with the agenda today, I want to pass it to our Vice Chair, Councilor Mitch Green, to share some remarks.

8:00Thank you, Councilor Avalos.

8:02Thank you so much, Chair Avalos.

8:04I'll keep my remarks brief because I know there's a lot of you here today to testify.

8:09We've got a very packed agenda.

8:11I just want to say that I'm excited to join this committee and to support you as the vice chair.

8:16I've been really very interested in all things housing ever since I was elected to this position and long before.

8:23And now I get to be on a committee that moves that work forward.

8:26We know that our communities are struggling with affordability challenges broadly, whether that's fuel, food, or utility bills, and Housing is just the biggest chunk there, and we, we're in a position to maybe do something about that.

8:39Every day I read in the news about some city that took a bold step on clearing through bottlenecks and taking a very sort of pro-build approach.

8:50And I say I want that for my city too.

8:53So I'm really looking forward to seeing how we can also accelerate and play catch up.

8:58And every single member of this committee, I've had conversations with you through my tenure in this building, and you all have great ideas.

9:05That I agree— there's a lot of overlap with, I think, all of us on housing issues.

9:11So I'm just really excited to be part of your little leadership team here.

9:14So thanks.

9:16Thank you, Vice Chair.

9:17All right, so turning to today's agenda, we have 2 housing finance items before us.

9:22First, we will hear an ordinance related to the Moderate Income Revolving Loan Program, and then we will consider an ordinance regarding unspent funds within the Portland Housing Bureau.

9:32So Diego, let's go ahead and call the first item.

9:34Item 1, adopt and implement the Moderate Income Revolving Loan Program.

9:39All right, so as folks are walking up, let me give you some intro into this item.

9:43So the state legislature passed a bill in 2024 that established a Moderate Income Revolving Loan Fund, or MIRL, to help cities finance housing development for households earning between 60% and 120% of area median income.

9:58This ordinance establishes Portland's local implementation of the state's moderate State's Moderate Income Revolving Loan Program, a new financing tool created by the legislature to support housing for middle-income households.

10:11This proposal allows the city to access no-interest state funds and deploy them locally using Prosper Portland to provide gap financing to housing projects that would not otherwise be financially feasible.

10:22Importantly, this tool leverages future tax revenue to support housing production today without requiring direct general fund investment.

10:30It also aligns state resources with our local tools like tax increment financing to accelerate the development of much-needed housing near transit and in high-opportunity areas.

10:40Adopting this ordinance is necessary— is a necessary step for Portland to access these limited first-come, first-served state resources and ensure that we can provide— that we can bring forward projects that expand housing options for our workforce and middle-income residents.

10:56Now the city needs to adopt this ordinance, which will allow us to access these MRL funds from the state housing agency.

11:01So I will go ahead and hand it off to Andrea Jacob from the Bureau of Planning and Sustainability and Sarah Harpole from Prosper Portland to provide more information.

11:09Take it away.

11:10Thank you.

11:11Good afternoon, Chair Avalos, Vice Chair Green, and members of the committee.

11:15For the record, my name is Andrea Jacob.

11:16I'm actually here today representing the DCA's Office for Community and Economic Development.

11:21I'm here with my colleague Sarah.

11:23Good afternoon.

11:23My name is Sarah Harpole.

11:25I'm a development manager at Prosper Portland, and we are going to walk you through the Moderate Income Revolving Loan Program.

11:31Next slide, please.

11:34So our agenda is to go over some background.

11:36I think the talking points are going to sound pretty similar to what you just heard from the chair.

11:40We'll talk through some eligible project examples, what the implementation pathway looks like to get this program stood up, and then a little bit about next steps.

11:49Next slide, please.

11:52So in 2024, the state legislature established the Moderate Income Revolving Loan Fund within Oregon Housing and Community Services and appropriated $75 million in seed funding, and that was for the whole state.

12:04In this last session, the legislature reduced that funding down to $50 million, and the purpose of the program is to support the development of moderate-income housing where the units will be priced for households earning 120% of AMI or less.

12:17Sarah's going to talk in some detail in a few minutes about how that process works.

12:21But at the highest level, it starts with a sponsoring jurisdiction, in this case us, the City of Portland, by passing an ordinance and then borrowing money from OHCS at no interest.

12:32This money is then made available to developers with eligible projects in the form of grants, and the state is paid back in one of two ways, which way depends on the project's geography.

12:42So outside of a TIF district, developer pays a property tax fee in lieu.

12:47Inside a TIF district, the city can pledge TIF as an alternative repayment source backed by the city's full faith and credit.

12:54The city does not make the decision as to which projects are chosen.

12:58That's the state's decision, and it is first come, first served.

13:02Next slide.

13:05So the program's intended to boost construction of higher-density multifamily housing.

13:09And due to a combination of factors with which folks are pretty familiar, low market rate rents, low confidence from investors, we're just not seeing these larger projects get built.

13:20They're not financially feasible.

13:22And at the same time, our housing needs analysis and our housing production strategy indicate a need for over 25,000 new units serving middle-income residents at that 60 to 120% AMI.

13:35So a MRL grant can do a couple of important things.

13:38It can help a developer fill a gap in the capital stack and at the same time lock in affordability for 10 years for middle-income Portlanders— teachers, truck drivers, cooks, retail employees— as the market improves.

13:53Next slide.

13:57I'm going to speak a little bit in a little greater detail about what it looks like to locally operationalize the MRL program.

14:03As you heard, per state statute, and then when coupled with Portland's Inclusionary Housing Program, there are 2 pathways for repayment of that initial loan between OHCS and the city.

14:14If the project that is applying is located in a TIF district, TIF resources must be used to repay the loan backed by the city's full faith and credit.

14:22The ordinance before you under consideration proposes that no more than $20 million in TIF be pledged at any one time given the backing by the city's full faith and credit.

14:32Outside of TIF districts, repayment sources are via a fee paid by the developer in lieu of their 10-year property tax payments.

14:39This fee is collected by the county and used to repay the loan.

14:43If the project is outside of a TIF district and subject to the city's inclusionary housing policy, the developer must comply with the IH requirements but would be required to forego any associated property tax exemptions Councilmember Herbold.

14:55Thank you, Mayor.

14:55I would like to thank the city staff for their work on this ordinance.

14:55I would like to make a couple of comments.

14:55First, I would like to thank the city staff for their work on this ordinance.

14:55I think it's a great ordinance that will help Portland's housing market.

14:55It will help reduce the burden on developers in order to utilize the moral tax exemption repayment process.

14:59Locally, we are also proposing a requirement that projects must produce a minimum of 75 new units within close proximity of transit.

15:07We know that funding is limited to $50 million statewide and awarded on a first-come, first-served basis.

15:12Therefore, we do not anticipate Portland will get more than a couple opportunities to submit applications on behalf of projects locally.

15:20Additionally, the level of staff effort to work with developers to review and complete required application materials and administer 10 years of compliance reporting is generally consistent regardless of the project size.

15:31So for these reasons, we are recommending the 75-unit requirement to ensure that this is the most efficient and effective use of the limited refund— limited funds we have available to us.

15:41Next slide, please.

15:44MRL is essentially a form of a tax increment financing tool being used by the state, and therefore it enables the city and Prosper to leverage tax increment in locations where TIF districts are either coming to a close, are in their infancy, or do not exist for the purposes of creating moderate-income housing.

16:00We know that funds are limited and we are unlikely to see projects in every district, but I wanted to walk through a couple examples of what that could look like.

16:08In District 1, it could be as the Lentz District closes, we are able to continue to deploy resources for projects such as 92nd and Herald, and then use the fee-in-lieu repayment opportunity to support that project.

16:20In District 2, it could look like as the interstate TIF district sunsets, we're able to continue to invest in that district and using the fee-in-lieu repayment source, or able to advance TIF resources in the new Lloyd District to invest now to be repaid over time as resources accrue in that district.

16:37Similarly, in District 3, we could advance Next slide, please.

16:43As TIF resources are accruing, or in the Central Eastside Corridor, to be repaid by TIF as those resources grow.

16:50And then lastly, in District 4, investment in the new Westside TIF district, again placing resources today that can be repaid by future TIF income.

16:58Next slide, please.

17:01As you heard, state statute requires that local sponsoring jurisdictions pass an originating ordinance to be provided before OHCS will consider any applications.

17:10So that's the process we're starting with you today.

17:12If the originating ordinance is approved, this will kick off a series of agreements.

17:16This includes a master agreement between OHCS and the city, as well as an agreement between OHCS and the county to provide their services for collecting the repayment fee and lieu resources.

17:27It would also require amending an intergovernmental agreement between the city and Prosper Portland for the administration of this program, as well as the city and the county, to ensure that there's partnership in the repayment approach.

17:38Once those are set up and materials and intake processes are in place to, to take in applications, Prosper would work with the developer to complete application materials and provide it to the state.

17:48If the state awards a program or awards a project, then Prosper would enter into a grant agreement with that developer, and the loan repayment mechanism would depend on which path and location that they're located.

17:59Prosper then would work with the developer to complete the 10-year compliance reporting process, working with OHCS to make sure all required materials are submitted and the project affordability remains in compliance during this 10-year period.

18:13Next slide, please.

18:16So this is just what happens if an ordinance is passed.

18:19There, as Sarah just said, there's a number of agreements that have to get executed.

18:24The first being a master agreement with OHCS between the city and OHCS.

18:29Also the county and OHCS.

18:31The city and county would also need to enter into an agreement.

18:35Prosper and the city would need to amend an existing IGA.

18:38There is rulemaking that is starting or has started, and we would go into some program development for the next few months and hoping to be open for business by fall of this year.

18:50And that concludes our brief presentation.

18:55Wonderful.

18:55Thank you.

18:57So we will go ahead and enter some discussion.

18:59And I know there is an amendment on the table, but why don't you just give a quick summary of your amendment and then we'll go to public testimony and then we'll come back.

19:09Sound good?

19:10That sounds great.

19:13Pull that up.

19:17Colleagues, I've filed a pre-filed Green 1, which amends the ordinance under consideration, which does a number of things.

19:26First, it removes the specification that these funds are for projects with 75 units or more, largely responsive to some testimony I received that suggested that that would cut out a lot of really high, high opportunity investments in our community.

19:44And it just seemed like an arbitrary number.

19:48Then the amendment also strikes the areas that delegate this responsibility to Prosper Portland and say instead that this is declared to be primarily administered by the Portland Housing Bureau.

20:00It expands the eligibility for what we're calling— it expands it to low and moderate income because the state statute actually contemplates this going as low as 50% AMI.

20:15So the ordinance that we're seeing here is more restrictive than what the state law contemplates.

20:19So it says let's bring it from 50% on up.

20:24And I think for me, that gets us closer to aligning with social housing concepts that we might want to adopt in our community, irrespective of jurisdiction.

20:33And then finally, it adds explicit reporting requirements so that way we can actualize the parts of the state statute that require That project pro formas are submitted and are inspected and that they are evaluated, that if not for these funds, that this project would not pencil out.

20:52As it's written now, City Council doesn't have a very strong— there's very weak oversight capability in that regard.

20:59So we just sort of delegated this away and we just, we depend on Prosper Portland doing this for us.

21:03So that's what it does.

21:06You know, we'll hear from testimony, I guess, and then I can—.

21:08Thank you.

21:09Answer any questions you guys have, and we'll— I probably want to ask questions of the, the Bureau staff, and, and if there's a city attorney in the room, that would be helpful as well.

21:18So I'll leave it at that for now, and then we can hear from our testimony.

21:23Okay, thank you, Vice Chair.

21:25So let's go ahead and call up our testimony.

21:27Diego, we have one individual signed up, Robert Pyle.

21:33Robert is online.

21:34Feel free to unmute and begin your testimony when you're ready.

21:37Thank you.

21:39Good afternoon, councilors, Chair Avalos, and to the new members, welcome to the Housing and Permitting Committee.

21:45My name is Robert Pyle.

21:46I'm the principal of Oakleaf Redevelopment.

21:49I want to say thank you to Chair Avalos and Mayor Wilson for sponsoring this ordinance.

21:52I've advocated for this with most of you personally, and I'm grateful to see it coming forward.

21:57We need all the tools we can get, especially ones funded with state dollars.

22:01Thank you also to Councilor Green for the proposed amendment, which addresses my primary concern with the draft ordinance.

22:06Eligibility should not be restricted to only projects of 75 units or more.

22:10Statute nor the example of the other jurisdictions in the state that have adopted the program to date support this restriction.

22:16I would also ask that you further amend Section 5 of Exhibit A to delete the reference to prioritizing mixed-use developments.

22:25This is a further unnecessary restriction that excludes many missing middle housing projects that are transit-oriented but 100% affordable.

22:32Thank you.

22:33This program is meant to support housing unit production, not retail and office.

22:39The staff presentation suggests that Portland's proportional investment will only support 1 to 2 projects.

22:44However, this is not a statutory allocation.

22:46The program is first come, first serve.

22:48I estimate this could support 300 to 800 units in Portland, and given only about 650 units were permitted for— submitted for permit in 2025, this program alone So please adopt Councilor Green's amendment, further amend Exhibit A to remove the mixed-use reference, and approve this ordinance for passage to the full council.

23:06Thank you.

23:09That concludes testimony.

23:11All right, thank you.

23:13Um, so Councilor— or Vice Chair Green, you're still in the queue.

23:17Do you want to go ahead and continue expanding on your amendment?

23:21Yeah, colleagues, um, first of all, You know, we looked at the underlying state statutes that changed House Bill 4037 enrolled, changed Section 302.213 through 307.237.

23:39And I don't see anywhere in there, and maybe I missed it, that requires this to be in a TIF district and that requires our repayment source to be through TIF proceeds.

23:50It sort of, you know, it specifies that the city should be the one to administer this program.

23:56Of course, we can always delegate things.

23:58But I think that as we enter into another instance where we're going to use public money to support private objectives or, you know, nonprofit objectives, we have to ensure that we have very strong accountability measures.

24:14And we've all been experiencing issues related to accountability with our public dollars in the housing sector.

24:20And so I'm very concerned of continuing this practice of delegating away from the City of Portland the work of doing this due diligence on evaluating whether or not these projects, these developers actually do need the money and whether or not it's consistent with our broader policy strategy.

24:40As we're doing this unified strategy, housing strategy approach over the summer, I want us to be set up so the city's in the driver's seat for it and we've not outsourced this work.

24:49That's part of it.

24:50The other part is just the financing structure in the law sets the city up to take on a liability to the state of Oregon that then depends upon us being made whole through repayment to the grantees.

25:05And so if there's that degree of separation between the city and for Portland, what guarantees do we have that Prosper is choosing the right projects that have the ability to repay the obligation that we've now exposed our state to the city— I'm sorry, exposed the city to the state of Oregon?

25:22And if the Portland Housing Bureau is in the driver's seat, this committee can do oversight on that work.

25:27It can ask the question of whether or not the projects that are under consideration have submitted all the necessary documentation And that the Bureau has had an opportunity to actually look at the pro forma and know how much this project is taking in developer fees vis-à-vis the rest of the public money stack.

25:45And so I just want to make sure we're using our taxpayer dollars wisely.

25:48And so if there's anyone from the City Attorney's Office who can speak to whether or not this is really required in statute to be in a TIF district to be repaid in this sort of way, I'd like to see it.

26:06Good afternoon.

26:07Thank you for the question.

26:08Adrienne Delgado, City Attorney's Office.

26:10Um, so I think to your first question, another way of looking at this is what are the repayment sources.

26:18Um, so one is by fee, and that is only available outside of a UAR.

26:25So if the city wants to charge, or whoever is operating the program wants to charge a fee as repayment that's automatically collected by the tax assessor, and then that property project gets a tax exemption, then that's one path, and that's the outside of a UAR path.

26:41Then there's the repayment with an alternative source of revenue path, and that will work in a UAR.

26:50Alternative source of revenue, as I read the statute, Does not necessarily have to be TIF.

26:56It could be a loan that's issued to the developer, and then the loan proceeds go back for repayment.

27:02But I think TIF, when this was— is a natural source of repayment that's also allowed.

27:07So would you— would it be fair to say that this, as proposed, is an allowable approach?

27:14It's an allowable thing under the statute, but it's not a prescribed method of administering this program?

27:20Correct.

27:20Thank you.

27:22I think that's the only question I have on the legal front.

27:26I think the bigger parts of it are philosophical.

27:29It's sort of like, is the threshold number correct?

27:32You've heard from Robert Pyle.

27:34There's, you know, we can get into a debate about that, but for now I think I'll just—.

27:38Move it though.

27:39Move it for now.

27:39Oh yeah, and I guess I would move the amendment.

27:42I move that we consider Green 1.

27:47Okay, moved by Councilor Green and seconded by, uh, Councilor Koyama Lane.

27:53Sorry, Vice Chair Green, got to get used to that.

27:56Um, great.

27:57So we will go ahead and move into discussion on the amendment, and I put myself in the queue so I can kick us off.

28:02Um, I appreciate the intent and, uh, also appreciate the city attorney's, uh, guidance that they shared.

28:10I think Part of my concern with the amendment is just the feasibility of who's prepared to administer that kind of work.

28:21And in talking with the service area, it seems like it just is more naturally situated with Prosper in addition to all the TIF stuff we're talking about.

28:30Of course, as you— as we heard from the attorney, that doesn't have to come out of TIF, but that's how they've set it up right now.

28:38I agree that the 75 amount is high, and it was part of the reason for, from my understanding, of why they placed it at that number.

28:49It is arbitrary in the sense that they just picked a number, but they wanted a higher number to encourage more units because those dollars are limited and we wanted to spur more development.

29:00I am comfortable with moving it down to 20.

29:03I'm not comfortable with removing the the floor, if you will.

29:07So I think by keeping it at 20 units, then that triggers inclusionary housing, and that's a priority to me.

29:14So I'm not going to support the amendment as is.

29:17I would support a change from 75 to 20, but just based on how the amendment is structured, it's kind of buried in there.

29:23So as currently written, I will not support, but I am interested in looking at lowering that.

29:30Let's move to Councilor Novick.

29:30Thank you, Madam Chair.

29:34Thank you, Madam Chair.

29:35I just wanted to hear from city staff any thoughts they might want to add on this 75 number, the other aspects of Councilor Green's amendment, Councilor Green's amendment, and Mr. Pyle's suggestion that the mixed-use reference be removed.

29:55Oh, and also, um, I, I think Chair Avalos already mentioned this, but I wanted to know about if there's— who— and I think this might be— answer might be you, Chair Avalos— has discussed with the Portland Housing Bureau the prospect of their taking this over?

30:10We've got Donny here to answer your questions.

30:13Go ahead.

30:14Thank you, Councilor.

30:14Thank you, Chair.

30:15Donny Oliveira, for the record.

30:17Regarding the 75 number, I think it's been shared a couple times.

30:20I'll just reiterate it.

30:21The 75 was arbitrary, but the intent was sound.

30:25I believe staff already articulated there's a $50 million state pot that's statewide.

30:30So those dollars are gonna be competitive.

30:31It is first come, first serve.

30:33So while we agreed with Mr. Powell that we wanna see as many units built, the likelihood that we'll have many projects is uncertain.

30:40And so the goal of 75 was just to set a bar that we thought we could get.

30:43If we were gonna get a couple of projects, let's make them large.

30:46But that was arbitrary.

30:48And so if there was gonna be an amendment to that number, We would recommend 20 units so that we were consistent with the IH policy of the city.

30:57Just a reminder for everybody, 20 units is the threshold for which IH kicks in for development, and we'd like to ensure that we had those policies intact for that to take advantage of this programming.

31:07As far as the PHB staff capacity, Councilor, the question really is the Housing Bureau has a lot of programming that's been placed on them this year.

31:18So it's not a matter of is this alone new work, is this On top of UHS, excuse me, the Unified Housing Strategy, on top of social housing, on top of the existing work we expect to hear later today.

31:29It just becomes a question of what is the staff capacity.

31:32And having said that, Prosper does do this work.

31:34They do middle-income housing already.

31:37They do this sort of underwriting.

31:38It is a logical pathway for them to continue this work.

31:41Can PHB do this work?

31:43Generally speaking, yes.

31:44Do we have capacity?

31:45We'd have to talk about that.

31:49Given everything else.

31:50Thank you.

31:53Oh, and what about the, the Mr. Powell's mixed-use point?

31:57I think that's, that's another example where we put that in.

32:00We think there's a logical— when you're talking about development in high-density areas, you know, commercial corridors, etc., those typically are mixed-use.

32:08If you were going to reduce the 75-unit, you know, threshold, that becomes less of a mandate, if you will.

32:15So to take—.

32:16Okay, so there's a link between those 2 things, the mixed use and the 75?

32:21Generally, yes.

32:25Thank you.

32:25All right, Councilor Pirtle-Guiney.

32:28Thank you, Chair Avalos.

32:30I'm trying to separate my questions about the underlying from my questions about the amendment, but there's a little bit of overlap here.

32:40I want to ask a bit more about staff capacity, and I'm not sure if this is a PROSPER question or a question for the DCA, but we heard that 75 was— in the comment about 75 units, we heard that in part that was to increase the efficacy of each application and the time staff were putting into it.

33:05And I'm wondering about the We heard about PHB, but the capacity at PROSPER to take this on and whether we foresee needing to bring on additional staff if this stays at PROSPER, and whether we would need to bring on additional staff to do this at PHB, or whether because we don't think we'll get a lot of applications through, staff can manage this.

33:30And I guess related question.

33:32Thank you.

33:34Do we think that there will be a lot of applications?

33:38Do we need to be worrying about the difference in capacity between PHB and PROSPER in a significant way?

33:45Thank you for the question, Councilor Donny Oliveira.

33:47PROSPER has staff capacity.

33:49I think the note was just to articulate that whether it's a 5-unit project or a 75-unit project, the process is still going to be the same.

33:57The underwriting will be a little more complex, of course, for 75 units, but Generally speaking, taking a developer in process is roughly the same amount of time.

34:07Prosper, given their workload in the real estate investment portfolio, has this staff already doing this type of work.

34:13So to answer your question, there's not a need for new staff at Prosper to do this work.

34:16It's within their existing capacity.

34:20There are staff at PHB that could also do this work.

34:22The difference there is many of them that you work with on a regular basis are also the policy leads doing some of the bigger policy work out of the bureau right now.

34:29So while they—.

34:30Do we have people in the bureau that can do this work?

34:32Yes.

34:33Are they completely encumbered with other policies and priorities?

34:36Yes.

34:37And so there probably would be a conversation about staff capacity.

34:40And the last thing I'll just speak to on this one, generally speaking, we'd like to get this out in the fall.

34:45This— there's staff in PROSPER who have been working on this for a while now.

34:48They have been prepared to get this going as fast as possible, rulemaking, et cetera.

34:52Thank you.

34:53So I would prefer— my recommendation would be for the council to contemplate not slowing us down because we already have staff in a bureau, in an agency that is doing the work and ready to go.

35:04Okay.

35:05And with removing the language, the amendment removes language around TIF repayment.

35:14Under the amendment, Councilor, is your intention— I'm going to turn this question to you in a minute— But is your intention that we would not be able to repay the loan with TIF and that this would remove that path forward, or just that it would not prioritize that path forward?

35:33Yeah, my intention is that the city retains its discretion to design its repayment methods allowable by state law, but it doesn't hardcode it right now that if it's in a TIF district That we are going to take off the top of our expected TIF proceeds from something, from a new loan obligation that we've just now put onto it by Merle.

35:54Okay.

35:56I have to be honest, I'm a little bit torn about this because I had a question on the underlying about whether using TIF repayment for something like this that moves forward outside of the TIF plan process Yes.

36:11Could inadvertently allow us to end-run a TIF plan and have projects that were not part of what the community prioritized, and I'm concerned about that.

36:21On the other hand, if we repay through diverted property taxes, that's additional money not coming into our city coffers, whereas if we repay through a TIF plan, that's money we already weren't planning to see.

36:37To fund housing, which is a priority within TIF.

36:40So I'd like to make sure that TIF is still an option, even though I want to return to that question when we're at the underlying.

36:49If we were to move this DC Alavera to PHB and under the language that's proposed here, removing TIF, do you foresee us still being able to use TIF as a repayment option, or would that become much more challenging?

37:08My understanding is if it moved over to PHB and we were going to activate TIF dollars, the PROSPER board, as the overseer of TIF funding, would still have an action to take to approve that allocation.

37:19Okay.

37:19So even if it's run through PHB, regardless of TIF though, and City Attorney can confirm that if they're— if Adrian's still in the room, The other part of your question though, can we use TIF, or excuse me, can we have other funding mechanisms?

37:36Yes, there's, as the staff outlined, outside of TIF districts, there was another pathway to fund back projects.

37:42Thanks, Adrienne.

37:43Okay, I see our attorney coming up also.

37:45I apologize, Chair, I have one other question after this.

37:48Yes, I agree with Donny.

37:50If we were using TIF as repayment, it would I mean, if it was at a rate that is contemplated by the set-aside, then PHB has access to those funds.

38:03But for 120% or anything above 80%, it would still need to be approved by Prosper's board.

38:11Thank you.

38:11I appreciate that answer.

38:15Final question.

38:15By lowering— or by adding the word low and, or the words low and Councilor, I heard that your intent there was to allow housing at between the 50% and 60% AMI level to be included.

38:30I think I added low and middle.

38:31Do we need to add the words low and, or do we need to just change the percentages in the section above that that say 60 to 120 to say 50 to 120, and middle-income housing would actually capture that?

38:45I think we need to add the words low and.

38:47I'm not sure I'm the right—.

38:54I mean, I can give you my opinion, but I suspect you want a city attorney's opinion.

38:57We have our attorney up here, so I'll look to her.

39:01Sorry, I'm opening the amendment.

39:04Okay, so under the amendment, what was 5 and is now 4 says 60 to 120, and that's not changed, but the words low-income housing are now removed.

39:12And if our intent is to capture 50 to 100%, 120%, I'm wondering if we actually need the words low and, or if our definition of middle-income housing is broad enough to capture that.

39:26And I'm also wondering if we need to change the percent in the bullet above or the section above.

39:33Where are we?

39:40Sorry, just give us a moment.

39:41We're, we're looking.

39:48While they're looking, I'll just share that I tend to agree with the chair that lowering the 75 could have benefit.

39:59I also am interested in capturing the 50 to 60% AMI units so that we can have broader mixed income buildings and neighborhoods.

40:10I am not inclined to support all of the portions of the current amendment though.

40:16I do think from what I heard from the DCA that if we move from 75 to 20 units, we may need to remove the restriction around Around having mixed-use buildings as well.

40:32But if we wanted to move forward a package with those 3 pieces, I would be a yes vote on that.

40:39Okay, so thank you for that minute to unpack this.

40:43So low and middle income, at least under Title 30, um, it's affordable housing is the way we define like the 80% limit.

40:53So I think low and middle are just general terms here that don't actually change the definition.

40:57I think we'd look to above for like what the 60% to 20% or use the actual, I think would be best to define the actual percentages for low to middle.

41:08That would be my suggestion.

41:10Okay, thank you.

41:11I appreciate it.

41:12Thank you, Chair.

41:14Councilor Green.

41:15Last thing I'll say, and I know that we'll move to a vote 'cause I know that we need to move forward in the agenda, is just that Yeah, I don't expect this amendment to pass today.

41:24We did have a discussion today, and we can consider these ideas at the full council ahead of that with some opportunity to break these things apart.

41:34But what I'll just note is that the low-income, low and moderate income that I chose for this ordinance is tied to the law, the HB 4037, which points to definitions in ORS 458.610, which Which is what I'm sort of keying my definitions to.

41:52So, um, I'll leave it at that, and, uh, we will let the chips fall where they may.

41:59All right, Councilor Koyama Lane.

42:04Thank you, Chair.

42:05Vice Chair, I just wanted to, um, say that what it sounds like I'm hearing is that there are folks open to different parts of this, and so I'm wondering if it makes sense to divide the question and vote on some of the different parts, the adding the low and language with the percentage, the piece around changing the threshold or the minimum of 75, lowering that.

42:31Are you open to dividing the question so we can vote?

42:34I am, but I just— there's a lot in that one piece.

42:37And so do you have a specific idea on how to divide the question?

42:41Because I I don't want to overly complicate it.

42:45Like, for instance, if people are interested in just the threshold number and taking that up, then we can say I want to divide the question, want to first vote on that change, and then, and everything else is the next vote.

42:57I guess I'm wondering if we can vote on what Councilor Pirtle-Guiney just said, the 3 areas that she was interested in.

43:06That's something we can do now.

43:08Helpful if I repeat that?

43:09It is helpful, yes.

43:10So I had expressed an interest in— you don't have this included, but in changing the threshold.

43:18I'm going to try to find where it is in your amendment again.

43:21I believe it was Section— oh no, Section 3?

43:28No, Section— you're talking about the 75-unit one?

43:32No, the low end.

43:33Sorry, Section 1.

43:36In Section 1, new sub 4— it was 5— where it says 60%, changing that to the 50% to capture the Vice Chair's intent and adding in the words low and.

43:50I was interested in all of the portions later in the amendment that would lower 75%, and I would defer to the Chair and lower that to 20%.

44:03And then it sounded from what I heard from the DCA that if we do that, we should probably remove the language around mixed income, or I apologize, mixed use, because a mixed-use building with 20 units isn't always as effective as a 75-unit mixed-use building.

44:22So that would be the third piece, is if folks are interested in the suggestion from the testifier to remove the language around mixed use.

44:28Thank you.

44:30I'm very interested in that.

44:33If you can hold that all in your head and make that motion, I'd vote on it right now.

44:37Otherwise, I would offer to work with you after this to bring forward a distinct amendment at the full council.

44:42Chair, what would you prefer?

44:43Why don't we vote on the current as-is?

44:46That way we can just get that off the, you know, the table, and then maybe we can hear a proposed new amendment.

44:52Does that work?

44:53Yes.

44:53Okay, so let's go ahead and move to a vote.

44:57Uh, Diego.

44:59We have a motion on Green 1, moved by Green, seconded by Koyama Lane.

45:04Pirtle-Guiney?

45:05No.

45:07Koyama Lane?

45:08Aye.

45:09Novick?

45:11No.

45:12Green?

45:13Aye.

45:14Avalos?

45:16No.

45:17With 2 ayes and 3 no votes, the amendment fails.

45:24Councilor Pirtle-Guiney, would you like to introduce the new amendment?

45:27So I don't have this in writing yet, so I'm going to look to the clerk and council ops when I say this to see if it works.

45:35I would move that in Section 1.5, because we're not looking at the amendment anymore, so in Section 1.5, we change the number 60% To 50%.

45:49In Section 1.6, we add the words low and between the words development of and middle income.

45:58And then let's look down in Section 4 where it says 75 units, that'd be changed to 20 units.

46:13Thank you.

46:16In Section 5, where it says provide a minimum of 75 new housing units, that be changed to 20 new housing units.

46:26I believe those are the only 2 references to the number 75.

46:32And then isn't there one more thing?

46:35Now, I would look to committee members, and I don't know how casually you want to run this, about whether we prefer I was responding to the comment from the DCA.

46:49I have no problem keeping it.

46:51I think in, in my district there are many smaller mixed-use buildings, and I would be happy to have 20-unit mixed-use buildings.

47:00But if that's not an effective use of this program, I'm happy to include removing it in this amendment for the sake of moving quickly.

47:09Councilmember Smith, I would say I would prefer to keep it just because 20 is the floor.

47:14And so that way it's not limiting it for if there is a 75-unit building, then we can encourage that that be mixed use.

47:20So I—.

47:21Okay.

47:21For that reason, I keep it in.

47:22Keep it in and just make those changes that I enumerated.

47:26All right, so that is an amendment.

47:27We'll call it Pirtle-Guiney 1, is moved.

47:30Do I have a second?

47:32Second.

47:32Seconded by Councilor Green.

47:35Is everyone clear on the committee on the amendment?

47:39Are there any— is there any other discussion?

47:44All right, then let's go ahead and move, uh, to a vote.

47:52Pirtle-Guiney?

47:52Aye.

47:54Koyama Lane?

47:55Aye.

47:56Novick?

47:57Aye.

47:58Green?

47:59Aye.

48:00Avalos?

48:01Aye.

48:02With 5 ayes, the amendment is approved.

48:05All right, any further discussion on the underlying ordinance?

48:10Then let's go ahead and— hold on, let me get the right language for you, Diego.

48:15And I apologize, Chair, did we have a motion and a second for that one?

48:19Moved by Pirtle-Guiney and seconded by Green.

48:21Thank you so much.

48:22Yeah.

48:24All right, so I would go ahead and Hold on, got to get to the right spot on my list.

48:32All right, I would like to entertain a motion to approve, uh, as amended document number 2026-124.

48:41So moved.

48:42Second.

48:43Moved by Koyama Lane, seconded by Pirtle-Guiney.

48:46Uh, any discussion?

48:48Let's move to a vote.

48:49Oh, do you have the discussion?

48:50Yeah, just real quick.

48:51Um, I think we've improved what's underlying based upon the discussion today.

48:55Uh, I'm going to be a no today out of committee because of the the Prosper Portland and governance controls that I was concerned about, and I look forward to, uh, working on that with anyone who wants to work on me— that with me before we get to the full council.

49:07Thanks.

49:10Thank you, Vice Chair, and let's talk about it more.

49:12I'd be interested in exploring that conversation ahead of full council.

49:15Diego, please call the roll.

49:18Pirtle-Guiney.

49:19Aye.

49:20Koyama Lane.

49:21Aye.

49:22Novick.

49:23Aye.

49:25Green?

49:26No.

49:27Avalos?

49:27Aye.

49:29With 4 ayes and 1 nay vote, the motion carries.

49:32It's the motion to refer the ordinance as amended, document number 2026-124, to full council with the recommendation that it be passed.

49:42All right, thank you.

49:44Let's go ahead and move on to our next item.

49:45Diego, could you please call item 2?

49:48Item 2, adopt a supplemental budget for the Portland Housing Bureau for fiscal year 2025 All right, thank you.

49:58So, um, before we get into the details of today's item, I just have a couple of quick thoughts to step back and ground us in why this work matters.

50:06Across Portland, we are hearing from people who are struggling to stay in their homes— families falling behind on rent, seniors on fixed incomes, and neighbors who are one unexpected expense away from losing their housing.

50:18At the same time, we continue to see more people entering homelessness than we are able to house them.

50:23So that is the reality in front of us.

50:25We learned that tens of millions of dollars, resources that were intended to support housing, were sitting unallocated or planned for uses down the road.

50:32That raised a fundamental question for all of us.

50:34How do we use these resources in a way that actually meets the urgency of this moment?

50:38Over the past several months, we've had that conversation as a council.

50:41We held a work session to surface priorities, heard from community partners, and worked collaboratively across offices and with PHB staff to shape a path forward.

50:51So what's before us today reflects that shared effort.

50:53For me, this is about being clear-eyed about the scale of the challenge and making sure we are using our limited resources where they have the greatest impact.

51:00And it also means recognizing that there is no single solution to our housing crisis.

51:04We have to take a comprehensive approach, one that helps people stay housed today, stabilizes the housing we already have, and continues to build toward the future our city needs.

51:13This is also about accountability.

51:15When we identify resources intended for housing, we have a responsibility to make sure they are deployed in a way that is transparent, effective, and aligned with the needs we're hearing from Portlanders.

51:23I want to thank my colleagues who have partnered on this effort, as well as staff and community members who helped to shape this proposal.

51:31And with that, I'm going to invite my co-sponsors to share a few remarks, and then we'll come back and walk through the ordinance in more detail.

51:36So we'll start off with Vice Chair Councilor Green.

51:40Thank you so much, Chair Avalos.

51:41I'll keep it brief because I don't want to take time from everyone who's signed up to Thank you, Mr. Mayor.

51:45Thank you, Mr. Mayor.

51:45Thank you to all of our staff to testify.

51:46This is probably one of the most important decisions we will make to shape our approach to housing over the next few years.

51:53We are responding to both a crisis of transparency into the nature of how these funds came to be and who gets to talk about that.

52:00But then we're also saying we're stepping up to the plate and we're going to invest one-time dollars in things that we think are going to have lasting solutions.

52:07And so I think the priorities in the ordinance are aligned with the priorities of our city.

52:13And I think we have an opportunity to shape a good fiscal stewardship approach to addressing the upstream problems in our housing homelessness continuum.

52:27Thank you, Vice Chair.

52:29We've got Councilor Murillo, I think, in the room.

52:31Yes?

52:32Are you in the corner?

52:33Yeah, come on up.

52:34Oh, there you are.

52:35Come on up.

52:41Oh, it feels weird being on this side of it.

52:44Hello everyone.

52:45Um, thank you so much for, uh, inviting me to come speak about this ordinance and why I think it is absolutely critical and important.

52:53Um, I was running downstairs, so I believe you covered what is already in the ordinance, but I really want to focus on the why and why this matters to our city right now.

53:05Every month, Multnomah County is really in dire straits when it comes to our homelessness crisis.

53:12We are losing about 300 people a month who are becoming unhoused, and that is not letting up.

53:20We have 25% of an increase in people who are becoming unhoused between January 2025 and January 2026.

53:30And that is not a trend that is being followed across the country.

53:34That is actually something that is unique to Portland, and that is partly because the mechanisms that we are using to address our homelessness crisis are not working, which means that we have to try something different.

53:44We have a duty to try something different.

53:47Congress expanded LIHTC last year, but studies have shown that more tax credits does not necessarily mean more housing.

53:53Developers can sometimes use the new credits to finance projects that they would have built anyways, and LIHTC units are rarely affordable enough for the lowest income households on their own.

54:03And the same bill cut over $1 trillion from social safety nets.

54:09HUD rental assistance is being restructured.

54:11A minimum of 2,000 Portland area households on federal rental subsidies are at imminent risk.

54:17SNAP benefits are disappearing for hundreds of thousands of Oregonians.

54:21And the bottom line is that the federal government is funding construction tools while gutting the affordability tools to make those units reachable.

54:29That is the context in which we have brought forward this ordinance.

54:32The Portland Housing Bureau has identified $56 million in funds that can be appropriated now, and they have been working with our offices to put together a package that responds to this moment.

54:42I want to talk about why these particular investments matter.

54:48There is a difference between a check and a fix, and I know that some are skeptical of rental assistance.

54:54I find myself skeptical of it as well.

54:57The critique is that rent assistance is just a check to a landlord.

55:00It doesn't change the rent.

55:01It doesn't change the power dynamic, and when it runs out, tenants are right back where they started.

55:06That's a fair critique about rental assistance and how it has historically worked.

55:11It is not a critique of what's in this.

55:14Package.

55:14Prevention is still the top priority in this package, and keeping someone housed costs a fraction of what it costs to rehouse them after they fall into homelessness.

55:23Every tenant who keeps their apartment is one fewer person in the shelter system, one fewer person in the emergency room, one fewer eviction clogging up the courts.

55:32As Council President Dunphy has put it, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

55:37The question is not whether prevention works It's whether prevention dollars are structured to produce lasting results or just delay the crisis.

55:44And this package balances both.

55:47Rent assistance in the short term— it has a flexible aid for people who are about to lose their housing right now, including 2,000 households about to lose federal subsidies.

55:58We are not pretending that that is a long-term solution.

56:01The structural pieces are in other parts of the package.

56:05The debt buydowns permanently restructure the financing on affordable buildings so that rents can come down and stay down, which is critical because the problem in a lot of those buildings isn't operating costs, it's overleveraged debt passed down to tenants.

56:20We also have the Right to Eviction Council, which changes the power dynamic in eviction court where tenants lose their housing more often and more and most preventably.

56:29Social housing acquisition acquisition also removes properties from the speculative market entirely.

56:35The rent assistance buys time for the structural interventions to take hold, and that is what's, uh, part of the design of this package.

56:43What we are doing with this ordinance is we are putting our faith and our trust and our infrastructure behind public ownership.

56:53$10 Million for direct acquisition of social housing.

56:57Property the public owns permanently.

56:59No investor exit, no LIHTC affordability restrictions that expire when a compliance period ends, no conversion to market rate.

57:08One-time dollars should buy permanent assets, and that's exactly what this does.

57:13The market cannot fix this alone.

57:15The market is exactly what got us here.

57:18The gap between what low-income Portlanders earn and what housing costs is too much and too large for the private market to close down on its own.

57:26That's not a criticism of developers.

57:29It is a fact about the economics of housing in this country.

57:32Construction of affordable housing has never produced a sufficient return on investment to attract private capital without public subsidy.

57:39That has been true for 90 years of federal housing policy, and it is true today.

57:44We can waive fees, we can streamline permits, and we should, but the cost of materials and labor and financing will always exceed what anyone who is poor can pay.

57:54LIHTC is necessary, but it's not sufficient.

57:56And Congress expanded LIHTC last year, but deal flow has actually slowed since the expansion.

58:02And more credits does not necessarily mean more housing.

58:06We can keep cycling through subsidies that expire, or we can start converting some of those dollars into permanent public assets that never expire and never convert.

58:17Debt buydowns are part of that process, making sure that we are permanently restructuring finances, that we target overleveraged mortgage debt, and that we are changing operating costs.

58:30By using acquisition as a tool, we can buy property that the public will own outright, and both are structural fixes.

58:37These are not Band-Aid solutions to these long-term problems.

58:42What this policy doesn't do is, I think we have to acknowledge that 56 million is not going to single-handedly resolve our housing crisis or our homelessness crisis.

58:52It does not close the 300-person monthly gap between inflows and outflows of who is leaving homelessness and who is becoming homeless.

58:59It does not replace the federal funding that is being pulled away from local municipalities.

59:04The rent assistance package.

59:05Will run out eventually.

59:07But what it does do, and what is absolutely critical for this body to understand, is that it keeps people in their homes while we build something that lasts.

59:16The debt buydown permanently lowers rents.

59:18The social housing acquisition permanently removes property from the speculative market.

59:23And those assets the public will own in 10 years, in 20 years, in 50 years.

59:29Everything in this package is a triage to address our problems.

59:33And that includes both long-term and short-term solutions.

59:36But to me, the real importance of this package is that it is investing in our permanent infrastructure, and that is what councils before us have failed to do, and that is what we have an opportunity to do with these one-time dollars.

59:51So I really hope that we will be able to pass this package today for the long-term health and well-being of Portlanders.

59:58Not just in the coming years, not just those who are going to remember this for our reelections, but for generations to come.

1:00:05So thank you so much for having me speak today.

1:00:07I really appreciate your time.

1:00:13Oh, is this working?

1:00:14Okay.

1:00:15Thank you, Councilor Morillo.

1:00:17Our other co-sponsor is Council President Dunphy.

1:00:20He is not going to speak, but he shares— there he is.

1:00:24He shares all of our sentiments.

1:00:26All right, um, so I'm going to go ahead and walk through the ordinance very quickly, and then we're going to get right into testimony.

1:00:34Um, so that should be on the screen, and then I also have copies here for my committee members in person.

1:00:44And Councilor Novick, you're online, but you've got it online.

1:00:47So, all right, so at its core, this ordinance allocates a set of housing resources that were identified over the past several months and now require council direction.

1:00:58So those include $20.7 million in rental service office funds, $19.7 million in short-term rental and transient lodging tax funds, $10.7 million in construction excise tax funds, and $4.8 million in River District tax increment financing.

1:01:14Together, these resources represent a significant opportunity and responsibility for council to invest in a way that responds to the urgency of Portland's housing needs.

1:01:22And what this ordinance does is take a balanced system-wide approach, making investments across prevention, stabilization, housing access, and long-term supply.

1:01:31So first, rent assistance.

1:01:34A total of $9 million will be allocated, including $5 million for flexible short-term rent assistance for households at risk of losing housing before facing eviction, $2 million in expanded funding for rent assistance and rapid rehousing for tenants facing eviction, and $2 million in new funding for rent assistance for individuals experiencing homelessness.

1:01:53Next, eviction defense and right to counsel.

1:01:56$1.9 Million in new funding for eviction defense services administered by the Portland Housing Bureau, including eviction defense contractors and the right to counsel pilot.

1:02:06Next is the debt buydown and housing stabilization.

1:02:09$8.8 Million in funding to the Portland Housing Bureau to administer operating supports including debt buydown to preserve affordability, improve living conditions, and stabilize housing providers in the city's affordable housing portfolio.

1:02:22Next, we have landlord-tenant education at $200,000 in expanded funding to support landlords implementing tenant protections, expand landlord-tenant education, and provide an informational campaign so tenants better understand their rights.

1:02:36Next is down payment assistance, $800,000 in new funding to provide down payment assistance for tenants who are ready to purchase a home.

1:02:43Next, we have a general fund allocation, $4 million is going back To the general fund.

1:02:48Then we have Broadway Corridor, $5.6 million in new funding for Broadway Corridor Parcel 6.

1:02:54Next we have Affordable Housing Development, $3 million in gap financing for Williams and Russell, Self Enhancement Inc., and Urban Plaza to support projects moving forward.

1:03:02Next we have Social Housing Acquisition, $10 million in new funding for direct acquisition of one or more properties for social housing under permanent public ownership.

1:03:11And finally, Notice of Funding Availability.

1:03:13$12.6 Million will remain unallocated at this time and is intended to support a future Notice of Funding Availability, or NOFA, for housing development.

1:03:22Taken together, this ordinance reflects a comprehensive approach investing in keeping people housed today, stabilizing the housing we already have, and building toward the housing system Portland needs moving forward.

1:03:32So with that, here let me talk about process.

1:03:35So we've got a bunch of different amendments that are proposed, and here's what I would suggest.

1:03:40I'm going to have everybody introduce very briefly their amendment, very, very briefly, so that we can get right into testimony.

1:03:47But I want folks testifying to understand your intent behind your amendments before we get into discussion.

1:03:53After that, we'll move into testimony.

1:03:55Please note, we noted that online, but the time has been reduced to 90 seconds.

1:04:01You know, we're at 3 o'clock right now.

1:04:03We've got 2 more hours.

1:04:04I just want to Urge the public, I'm grateful for you being here, wherever possible to minimize your comments or just say, you know, ditto to what was heard so that we can get straight into committee discussion because we do have a lot of amendments to review and I want to make sure we have time to pass this because tomorrow what comes out of this committee is going to be placed as an amendment during the tax— or I'm sorry, during the technical adjustment ordinance or TAO.

1:04:31And so it is urgent that we get this out of Committee today, so I want us to get back to the, the discussion.

1:04:36Um, and then we have several people in the room here to answer questions.

1:04:39So with that, let's go ahead and open it up, um, to councilors who have amendments.

1:04:44Um, any preference on who would like to go first?

1:04:46Oh, here you go, Councilor Pirtle-Guiney, go ahead.

1:04:50Great, thank you, colleagues.

1:04:51I submitted 3 amendments.

1:04:54Um, I'll save the overarching how they go together for our discussion after The first, Pirtle-Guiney 1, replaces the current debt buydown language with more specific language tying debt buydowns to tangible reductions in rent and one-time— a one-time infusion of dollars that can lead to ongoing benefits for the community, including turnover of units, keeping those units occupied, and other benefits.

1:05:25Thank you.

1:05:25Full and security enhancements, as well as, again, those tangible targeted rent reductions that we've talked so much about.

1:05:34I'm trying to capture the conversations we've had in specific language.

1:05:39Pirtle-Guiney 2 creates a new category of funding, and we've talked about the importance of the deeply affordable housing units in our community, and we know that deeply affordable supportive housing units are some of the hardest to bring and keep online, but the package as it currently stands doesn't target those units in any way.

1:06:00We have a couple of providers who I believe we'll hear from in public testimony who will talk about the importance of targeting some of our funds toward these particular units.

1:06:09This amendment ensures that we can keep those units online, many of which we're at risk of losing in our community right now.

1:06:17The third, Pirtle-Guiney 3, adds an additional project.

1:06:21And I know there has been some heartburn amongst many of our colleagues over enumerating specific projects, and I hesitate to bring forward another because of that.

1:06:31But I think that this is a really critical project for us to hear about.

1:06:34Hacienda recently purchased a building that was developed or began development as an affordable housing building, but the developer abandoned the project midway through.

1:06:46There is a shell that is finished.

1:06:48The inside is not yet fully built out.

1:06:51Hacienda is interested in changing the footprint of the units within the building so that they are all family-sized units, 2 and 3-bedroom units.

1:07:01And because the permitting is done, the foundation is in the ground, and the shell is created, I believe these are over 50 units that could actually be online by the end of the year.

1:07:12If we can help them with gap funding.

1:07:14This is in line with the gap funding idea that we have for other projects, but adds a project to that list, which again could get us over 50 family-sized units within the year.

1:07:24And I'm hopeful that they're here today to give us more details about that.

1:07:28But I think it's an important piece for us to consider as we try to move quickly with our work.

1:07:35Okay, thank you, Councilor Pirtle-Guiney.

1:07:38Uh, Councilor Novick, can you please briefly introduce your amendments?

1:07:43Yes, um, Novick 3, um, would— the, the first thing it would do, and to me probably the most important, is clarify something which I think Chair Avalos said was already your intent, that the $8.6 million from the 2% transient lodging tax, which could all be directed to the general fund legally, will all be directed to the general fund.

1:08:07$4.3 Million for this fiscal year, $4.3 million for next fiscal year.

1:08:13I think of that as my found money layoff avoidance proposal, or FEMLA.

1:08:17Um, I would also propose that instead of having some money allocated for specific projects, some money for social housing, some money for NOFAs, I'm proposing A comprehensive $21 million pot for the creation of a new fund dedicated to loans for long-term housing construction, affordable housing preservation, and the direct acquisition of properties for social housing and permanent public ownership.

1:08:46And it clarifies that we actually would expect those loans to be repaid.

1:08:51There's a history in the Housing Bureau of making loans that are not repaid.

1:08:54Thank you.

1:08:55Novick 2 is the simplest of my amendments.

1:08:59That relates to eviction defense, and it simply lists the elements of comprehensive eviction defense.

1:09:06It is language that we got from service providers.

1:09:09Then we have Novick 1A and 1B relating to rent assistance.

1:09:14It is my view that rent assistance should be targeted to people who either are homeless or are at severe risk of homelessness.

1:09:21So whereas the current proposal would dedicate $5 million in rent assistance to people who are at risk but not facing eviction, I propose either spending $6 million on people for rent assistance and people facing eviction, and $3 million in people transitioning from shelter to homelessness, or the reverse, $6 million to people transitioning from shelter to homelessness Thank you.

1:09:48And $3 million to people facing eviction.

1:09:51And I note that the mayor says that the money he's asking for, for people transitioning from shelter to homelessness, costs about $19,000 per family.

1:10:02Becky Strauss at the Oregon Law Center tells me that the average amount at issue in an eviction proceeding is $3,000.

1:10:10And I've read that 16% of people against whom evictions are filed Um, actually are evicted, and there's evidence showing a large percentage of those become homeless.

1:10:21So actually, I think that if you compare the 2, either we spend $3,000 on 6 people, and that should result in avoiding 1 case of homelessness, or $19,000 on 1 person to move them out of homelessness.

1:10:35I think that the impact is kind of equivalent.

1:10:38Uh, so I propose those as 2 alternate, uh, 2 alternate proposals, 1A and 1B.

1:10:45All right, thank you, Councilor Novick.

1:10:47So, um, again, uh, please try your best to be brief, but we are looking forward to hearing from you.

1:10:53Let's go ahead and get into public testimony.

1:10:57Thank you, Chair.

1:10:58I'll call folks up in groups of 5.

1:11:01And just quick housekeeping for those who are testifying in person, uh, well, for everyone testifying, you each receive 90 seconds.

1:11:08For folks that are in In person, you'll see the timer countdown on the monitor in front of you at the testimony table.

1:11:13And for virtual testifiers, you'll see your timer countdown in Zoom.

1:11:18So first we have Blake Baker, Kevin Cronin, Zach White, Andy Miller, Kathleen Swift.

1:11:30Kevin will join us online shortly.

1:11:43Go ahead.

1:11:48My name is Zach White.

1:11:49I knocked on doors for some of you, um, with my work with Next Up Action Fund, but today I'm speaking as someone who was born at Portland Adventist Hospital.

1:11:59I'm 29 years old, I would love to own a home in the city I was born in, but most of you probably know Fortune Magazine reported that the average home buyer in the United States is 59 years old.

1:12:12The city is my home, but that is out of reach for many people, many young people.

1:12:18Today I pay too much of my income for a small apartment in Sellwood.

1:12:22I love the bald eagles outside my window and the parks.

1:12:25The algorithmic price-fixing ban you passed feels like pointing in the right direction, so thank you.

1:12:31I was proud to stand outside while Councilor Avalos introduced Slow the Inflow in December.

1:12:37You told the story of being 12 years old, helping your family live paycheck to paycheck with grace and humor, but the pain and injustice of that hit me really hard.

1:12:46I posted a clip of that online and someone commented that they cried opening their paycheck and seeing they have just enough to pay for rent.

1:12:56In the last social housing report, you saw a double line graph of average rent in Portland rising faster than average income.

1:13:04For working Portlanders, the math isn't mathing.

1:13:07I support the Keep Portland Housed proposal, gap financing for humans.

1:13:12You ate with that.

1:13:14Most young people in the city may not own properties or stock shares, but this city is ours.

1:13:19Thank you for hearing us.

1:13:25Thank you.

1:13:26Vice Chair Green, members of the Housing and Permitting Committee, for the record, my name is Kevin Cronin, and I'm registered as a lobbyist in my role as the Director of Policy and Advocacy at Housing Oregon.

1:13:37We're a statewide association of mission-driven organizations that build, finance, operate, and support affordable housing.

1:13:45I am here today in support of the ordinance, especially the proposed investment in operating support, including debt buydown for nonmarket housing.

1:13:52We need to treat affordable housing like the public service it has become instead of forcing it to operate like a business.

1:13:59Affordable housing has propped up far more than just our housing system.

1:14:02We became the place where gaps in the health system, the addiction recovery system, the court system, and the safety net all went into once.

1:14:10The financial math changed.

1:14:12Higher earners saw their incomes rise.

1:14:15People at the bottom did not.

1:14:17Affordable housing operates under rent restrictions and formulas based on area median income that do not always match what extremely low-income tenants can actually afford to pay.

1:14:27The result is plain.

1:14:28Buildings serving the 0 to 30% AMI Portlanders are often unable to cover basic operating costs.

1:14:36This ordinance has practical tools that can help align rents with tenant incomes, stabilize operations, fill vacant units, and preserve affordable homes.

1:14:45My last point, when the city invests project funds in affordable housing development, those dollars should move through a Portland Housing Bureau NOFA process.

1:14:54As the professional association, we think that is a best practice, um, and creates clear expectations and increases transparency.

1:15:01Thanks so much.

1:15:04Thank you.

1:15:05Go ahead, Kathy.

1:15:07Thank you.

1:15:08I'm Kathy Swift, Senior Vice President at Heritage Bank, lending to affordable housing, homeless shelters, and social safety net nonprofit providers in Oregon, many of them here in Portland.

1:15:24I do believe that with the federal, state, and county funding cuts Our safety net holes are widening quickly, and over the next 12 months, there is an accelerating number of citizens who will fall into homelessness.

1:15:39The spending allocation is very well thought out, and while not enough money to solve this crisis we are facing, it is what we have available to triage the worst outcomes.

1:15:53This, this plan will be effective, in my opinion, And rather than seek perfection in our solution, we can and should use these funds as soon as possible for rent assistance, gap financing on projects really close to closing and bringing on units, and debt buydowns to keep projects from falling into foreclosure.

1:16:19I disagree with Councilor Novak's proposed amendments As I don't believe they are as well thought out as several of what's been proposed.

1:16:29And as a lender to this sector, action is absolutely necessary now.

1:16:35Thank you.

1:16:38Thank you.

1:16:39We've got Andy online.

1:16:41Yeah.

1:16:42Hi, Chair Avalos, Vice Chair Green, and members of the committee.

1:16:46For the record, I'm Andy Miller.

1:16:48I'm here as executive director of Our Just Future, an affordable housing and shelter provider located in District 1.

1:16:55While our organization supports a lot of the proposed package, I want to use my 90 seconds today to emphasize and lift up 2 critical funding priorities.

1:17:04First, we urge the council to fast-track and increase your proposed investments in rental assistance for people experiencing homelessness outlined in 1C.

1:17:14And specifically to prioritize these investments for people currently living in shelters at risk of closure due to budget contraction.

1:17:23Multnomah County's Homeless Services Department has proposed a budget for FY27 that would close over 600 currently occupied shelter beds in less than 100 days, with no budget to fund a transition plan.

1:17:37Without immediate investment, we risk having to discharge 600 Portlanders staying at our shelters.

1:17:42Back to unsheltered homelessness.

1:17:45This is a preventable catastrophe.

1:17:47Targeted rapid deployment of rent assistance to impacted shelter providers can successfully move people from shelter to housing and avoid the disastrous consequence of returning people currently sheltered to the streets.

1:18:01Second, with respect to portfolio stabilization, we support these investments and we believe they are urgent.

1:18:08And will work best if they remain flexible.

1:18:11Across our own portfolio of 600 apartments and affordable housing, we're seeing increased financial strain, rising operating costs, and real risks to the stability of existing units.

1:18:24We appreciate your leadership and urge you to act with urgency.

1:18:27Thank you.

1:18:28Thank you.

1:18:30Once more for Blake Baker.

1:18:35Next is Molly Hogan, Mandy Campos, Giovanna Bustamante, Becky Strauss, Squire Squire.

1:18:51Hello, committee members.

1:18:52My name is Molly Hogan, and I'm the director of Welcome Home Coalition, a multicultural housing justice alliance that believes we can have a system that ensures everyone access to a home.

1:19:01No matter their income.

1:19:02For the sake of so many households on the verge of losing their housing this month and on the verge of becoming housed again, I beg you all to move forward together to pass the Keep Portland Housed ordinance and stop sitting on millions of dollars that could help real people now.

1:19:17We know that eviction prevention legal services and rent assistance dramatically slow the number of people falling into homelessness.

1:19:22Data shows 4 out of 5 people stayed in their housing from receiving ERA after eviction filings.

1:19:28I also want to set the record straight on comments made that Multnomah County has spent tons of money on eviction prevention and it hasn't helped.

1:19:34In actuality, last fiscal year, Multnomah County spent just 3% of its supportive housing services funds on eviction prevention.

1:19:43While we want to see this proposed ordinance move forward, I must call out 2 areas of allocation we find problematic.

1:19:49One, sending $4 million back to the city general fund while Mayor Wilson is going to neighboring counties and begging for money is nonsensical.

1:19:57Keep your own housing money to pay to address homelessness.

1:20:00And 2, giving $5.6 million of public money to a for-profit developer is so disappointing.

1:20:06Can you as leaders prioritize people's right to sleep and survive with safety and privacy over someone's right to make a profit?

1:20:13The city is not in dire need of more $2,500 a month apartments opening in 5 years.

1:20:18But we are desperately in need of public dollars being spent to make more $500-a-month apartments for our neighbors who will never reenter the workforce and deserve dignity in housing.

1:20:28And quickly, I want to say I do not support Novick's amendments.

1:20:31They don't make sense.

1:20:32Elena Pirtle-Guiney, your amendments, first time I heard them, made sense.

1:20:35Thank you.

1:20:36Go ahead.

1:20:44Hello, my name is Mandy Campos.

1:20:46I'm with the Welcome Home Coalition, but I'm testifying from my own experience as someone who has worked in housing for the last 6 years, from housing subsidies for young parents coming out of homelessness, emergency rental assistance for eviction prevention, and renters' rights education.

1:21:01I have seen countless firsthand accounts from our ongoing tenant crisis and real-life people, families, and stories impacted, the constituents you owe a responsibility towards.

1:21:13Not to be seen as numbers and data, but as your fellow neighbors.

1:21:17My experience has shown me that eviction prevention through emergency rental assistance is a bandage to a bleeding wound to a larger systemic failure that needs to be addressed.

1:21:27However, it is a wound that is urgent and must be tended nonetheless.

1:21:32We can look ahead while also meeting people and their needs where they're at.

1:21:37The cost of living Goes up, affordable housing is not affordable, wages stay stagnant, and the conditions of properties do not improve with each rent increase.

1:21:47This only perpetuates the cycle of homelessness where we can prevent it before it starts.

1:21:52We need emergency rental assistance to keep households afloat while we figure out how to do more than the bare minimum for our communities.

1:22:01To quote the 101 Notes of the LA Tenant Union, Note 5, when we call this a housing crisis, It benefits the people who design housing, who build housing, who profit from housing, not the people who live in it.

1:22:14Instead of putting part of these funds in the house—.

1:22:16In the hands of for-profit developers, it needs to go to eviction prevention, debt buydown, or public acquisition categories.

1:22:24Do right by the people in your communities you serve.

1:22:27Thank you.

1:22:33Hi, my name is Giovanna Bustamante, and I work as a director of economic sustainability for Program Hispano Católico.

1:22:39Today I want to start by sharing a participant story which I hope demonstrates how critical rent assistance is before an eviction notice.

1:22:47This participant showed up in extreme distress, unsure of how they would be able to pay rent due to their advanced age.

1:22:56This participant didn't work and relies on fixed SSI income.

1:23:00They shared an apartment with their adult son who had been covering most of the household expenses.

1:23:06Unfortunately, this participant's son was suddenly deported, leaving them alone without the financial support they need to— they needed to maintain their housing.

1:23:14By providing rental assistance, the program was able to prevent their eviction and secure an additional 2 months of housing stability.

1:23:21This extension allowed the participant time to work with their caseworker to apply for, for, and for transition low-income housing.

1:23:29This is just an example of how providing rental assistance can support a community, a member, and someone before the eviction is present.

1:23:38Our program helps maintain housing stability, reduce entry into shelter, and supports families during crisis situations.

1:23:46I urge you— I urge this committee to approve the budget reallocation support to support programs like us and the communities we serve.

1:23:54Thank you.

1:23:54Second.

1:23:58Good afternoon, Chair Avalos, members of the Housing Committee.

1:24:01My name is Becky Strauss.

1:24:02I'm here on behalf of the Oregon Law Center in support of this ordinance.

1:24:05Thank you for the opportunity.

1:24:07Our client community includes the 16,000 people in Multnomah County struggling with homelessness and the thousands more who are living on extremely low or fixed incomes and are rent burdened in their housing.

1:24:19We are a contractor, current contractor with the city for eviction prevention legal services.

1:24:23Thank you.

1:24:24We're ready to scale up.

1:24:25We appreciate the investment.

1:24:27I'm in support of Novick 2.

1:24:28I think that makes sense.

1:24:32Lawyers are critical to help people know their rights, help them navigate a very fast and complicated process, and avoid an eviction judgment.

1:24:40But rent assistance is what keeps people stable and housed.

1:24:44It's the smartest and most important investment in this proposal.

1:24:49As you all know, there was a big We did see a spike in eviction filings in January, and 12%— in Multnomah County, that was 13%.

1:24:56Over 90% of those cases are nonpayment of rent cases.

1:25:00Those are safety net failure evictions, and rent assistance can keep tenants housed in those situations.

1:25:07The average, as Councilor Novick noted, is about less than $13,000.

1:25:13But I saw a filing in the docket just looking today from a February filing that was $47.

1:25:20That's less than the filing fee to take the case to court.

1:25:24Another case I was looking at was for $220.

1:25:29That was at issue in the eviction.

1:25:32The tenant went to court.

1:25:33She didn't have a lawyer.

1:25:35She negotiated with the landlord's lawyer, and she signed a payment plan for over $7,000 on a $220 eviction.

1:25:42Of course, she didn't make those terms that also included the landlord's fees.

1:25:47She got a judgment against her and she got evicted.

1:25:49We could have prevented that eviction with rent assistance availability.

1:25:53$220.

1:25:54Thank you.

1:25:54Thousands of households are—.

1:25:56Your time is up.

1:25:56Thank you for listening.

1:25:58I appreciate you.

1:25:59Thank you very much.

1:26:02Looks like we have Squire Squire online.

1:26:05Good afternoon.

1:26:06My name is Squire and I'm a street librarian for Street Books, a mobile library serving people living outside and on the margins.

1:26:20It's hard to believe that in the last 6 months, the City of Portland has uncovered millions in unspent housing funds— unspent, unused— while people fell into homelessness waiting for help, while we are desperate for permanently affordable housing, while we see more and more people lose their homes every day.

1:26:38Our patrons are more than percentages.

1:26:40They are more than numbers.

1:26:40They are our neighbors.

1:26:41They have stories.

1:26:44Their resilience is humbling.

1:26:47All Portland Housing Bureau dollars should be directed toward the people who need it the most.

1:26:52Our city government should spend our tax dollars to bring down the cost of housing.

1:26:57Housing is expensive.

1:26:59Housing dollars should not be going to the general fund.

1:27:02Mayor Wilson has already wasted over $325 million in his failing overnight shelter project.

1:27:08Thank you.

1:27:14Housing dollars should not be going to the for-profit Broadway Corridor project.

1:27:19It is unconscionable to give housing dollars to developer companies to create more unaffordable housing.

1:27:25Portland, let's be honest, fair market housing is not fair.

1:27:27We need to invest in social housing acquisition and development.

1:27:31We need to support public acquisition of underutilized private market property.

1:27:35We need to apply continuous pressure on our local governments to invest in making housing affordable for all.

1:27:39Thank you.

1:27:39Councilmember Smith.

1:27:41It is vital that we create forever affordable housing.

1:27:44Thank you.

1:27:45Thank you.

1:27:49Next up we have Councilor Loretta Smith, Benjamin Gilbert, Anna Kernitzky, Sarah Fisher, Crystal Delahanty.

1:28:02Sarah will join us online virtually.

1:28:08Go ahead, Councilor.

1:28:13Thank you so much.

1:28:14It, it does feel different when we're on this side of the dais.

1:28:17And I just want to say, Councilor Avalos, to your first 5 points, ditto, ditto, ditto, ditto, ditto.

1:28:24And to you, Alana Pirtle-Guiney, your amendments, ditto, ditto, ditto.

1:28:29I'm supporting your supplemental budget, budget that directs unallocated funds into, to what matters most: emergency rental assistance, affordable housing options, and pathways to homeownership.

1:28:43This is such a time-sensitive time in this housing crisis.

1:28:49These are dollars we can use right now to stabilize families and invest in long-term solutions.

1:28:56We have here in Portland an opportunity to put real action into our housing crisis.

1:29:01Yes.

1:29:02Too many of our families are struggling to stay housed, and behind every number there is a real person.

1:29:11Specifically, I support what you're trying to do with the Broadway corridor, with Williams and Russell, and building home ownership, and also making sure that our most vulnerable folks who are facing eviction, that they get those dollars first.

1:29:29I also want to say specifically, let's support Hacienda.

1:29:33We can put about 50 units on, on, um, live at— by the end of this year.

1:29:40And secondly, Oasis of Praise, which is in District 3.

1:29:44Those folks need an opportunity to serve our houseless and our vulnerable individuals with mental health, uh, warming and cooling centers.

1:29:52Thank you so much for allowing me this time.

1:29:55Thank you, Councilor.

1:30:00Um, whoever wants to go next, go ahead.

1:30:01Ben.

1:30:02My name is Ben Gilbert and I'm a tenant in District 4.

1:30:05I'm also a volunteer lobbyist for the Portland Democratic Socialists of America, a mass democratic organization with over 3,000 dues-paying members in the Portland metro area, many of whom are struggling renters being crushed by the rapidly increasing costs of housing, services, and consumer goods.

1:30:22The working class desperately needs the government to step up and work for us.

1:30:27With that said, we generally support the supplemental budget for the Portland Housing Bureau for this fiscal year.

1:30:33We support the debt buydowns because they lower rents, stabilize affordable housing, and fill vacancies.

1:30:39We are very supportive of funding for the acquisition of social housing because it is essential to a truly affordable future Portland.

1:30:47The market has failed to deliver affordable housing.

1:30:49Thank you.

1:30:49And social housing is a proven solution.

1:30:52In fact, projects like Parcel 6, funded almost exclusively with millions of public dollars, should be the types of developments that we include in our social housing portfolio.

1:31:04We support eviction defense because it works and stops the inflow into homelessness.

1:31:08We saw how effective prevention worked during the pandemic to dramatically reduce the inflow into homelessness.

1:31:14One change we would like to see is the general fund monies reallocated towards rent assistance, rent buydowns, and social housing.

1:31:22Every dollar towards the general fund is a dollar taken away from mitigating the housing crisis in our city right now.

1:31:28And to conclude, we strongly advocate that City Hall adopt and operationalize the Renters' Bill of Rights.

1:31:33Again, renters are being crushed under the weight of this economy.

1:31:37And while the bosses and the lobbyists at the Metro Chamber cry about tax cuts, we desperately need direct Thank you.

1:31:50Anna?

1:31:51Good afternoon.

1:31:53I'm Anna Kornitzky, Executive Director of Community Warehouse, the Portland area's only furniture bank.

1:31:58I support— generally support this supplemental budget's investments in eviction prevention, acquisition of existing housing, rent assistance, and rehousing.

1:32:07These are critical, especially after federal, state, and county cuts.

1:32:11From our vantage point furnishing homes for thousands of families each year, full-spectrum housing investments are what make the system work.

1:32:18When someone gets a housing voucher but has no furniture, their housing isn't functional or stable.

1:32:23The data shows when people transitioning out of homelessness receive coordinated support, they're most likely to succeed.

1:32:29Also, prevention is exponentially more effective than crisis response.

1:32:32The biggest indicator of someone will experience homelessness is if they've experienced it before.

1:32:37Eviction prevention must remain a priority.

1:32:40While this budget fills some gaps, we know it doesn't resolve everything, and we cannot keep making reactive decisions in crisis mode.

1:32:46Community Warehouse joins the Welcome Home Coalition and Housing Oregon in calling for the city and county to collectively and immediately map FY27 resources and gaps across all funding streams.

1:32:57Please engage service providers in service planning, Thank you.

1:33:03As you map resources, include the full spectrum of housing stability services.

1:33:07How are essential supports like furniture funded?

1:33:10I urge you to support these investments that address housing inequity, not additions to the general fund, and to commit to comprehensive resource mapping with service providers at the not proverbial table.

1:33:22Thank you.

1:33:24Thank you.

1:33:25Next is Sarah Fisher.

1:33:28You're online.

1:33:31I think you're still muted, Sarah.

1:33:39There I am.

1:33:39Good afternoon, councilors.

1:33:42My name is Sarah Fisher.

1:33:43I'm a street chaplain in the Montevilla neighborhood, and I'm here today alongside other providers and advocates from East Portland.

1:33:50I am here for people with whom I worship every Sunday evening in Montevilla Park.

1:33:55Some of whom are desperately trying to hold on to their housing and others who are waiting to get into housing.

1:34:03They are tired of being on the street and they are even more tired of hearing about millions of hidden and unallocated housing dollars.

1:34:13I am here to ask you to ensure that the $9 million in rent assistance and rapid rehousing be equitably distributed with intentional investment.

1:34:22Thank you.

1:34:22Thank you.

1:34:23Thank you, Mayor.

1:34:23I'm Councilor Tiffany Koyama Lane, and I'm here to speak on the proposed ordinance.

1:34:23This ordinance is a major step in the right direction, but it is not a complete solution to the crisis of homelessness in East Portland.

1:34:25There's a poster in the City Hall building, which I know many of you are familiar with, suggesting that 1,500 shelter beds are equivalent to a bed for every homeless Portlander.

1:34:38This is simply not true.

1:34:41Congregate shelters with extremely limited services are not for everyone, and that does not mean that the thousands of people still homeless don't deserve to be helped through these funds.

1:34:54I would love to see $6 million to help people who are currently homeless, but shelter providers should not be prioritized in the allocation of those funds.

1:35:06On the ground in East Portland, sweeps have increased dramatically, but unlike the sweeps touted by the city's social media, there are no outreach workers Visiting people living there unsheltered and offering them resources.

1:35:20Please pass this crucial ordinance and please prioritize geographic equity.

1:35:27Thank you.

1:35:28Thank you.

1:35:34Normally, normally we don't let people clap.

1:35:36I'm letting you clap.

1:35:37I really don't care that much, but let's just try to keep it quick.

1:35:40And if you can do this, that would just help us keep it moving.

1:35:43But okay, next.

1:35:47Diego, can you call the next person?

1:35:49Yeah, thanks.

1:35:50Next is, um, Crystal Delahanty, Desiree Eden Ocampo, Michelle Hornbeck, Sahan McKelvey, Amon Rutherford Green.

1:36:05Go ahead, Crystal.

1:36:06Good afternoon, Council and committee members.

1:36:09My name is Crystal Delahanty, and I'm the executive director of PDX Saints Love and a steering committee member for Welcome Home.

1:36:16I'm here alongside our collective of providers, advocates, and community members in strong support of the Keep Portland Housed resolution.

1:36:25We support this because it reflects what we are seeing every day.

1:36:28Homelessness is being driven by economic displacement.

1:36:31In 2025, thousands of people became homeless for the very first time in their lives.

1:36:37This was also followed by Approximately 12,000 evictions filed, and I found out this morning, just year to date, 3,058 evictions filed this quarter.

1:36:50Families are not falling into homelessness because of a single crisis.

1:36:53They are being priced out and left without stabilization.

1:36:57It costs double or sometimes triple to rehouse an individual once they're in the court system, which shows us that it's not only less traumatizing for the people but also cost-effective, efficient for all of us.

1:37:09People should not have to face the devastation of eviction before they deserve a life raft from us.

1:37:16We strongly support the $9 million in rent assistance and rapid rehousing, and we ask that it be equitably distributed with intentional investment in East Portland.

1:37:25Over the past, over the past year, funding shifted towards downtown and Old Town, and we saw hundreds of families in East Portland lose their housing while shelters became bottlenecked without placement out of them.

1:37:37We support without changes the rest of the amendment, and we want to thank Councilor Avalos for your leadership, for listening to community, to thoughtfully put this package together.

1:37:47I look forward to the rest of the committee's support here.

1:37:50Thank you.

1:37:53Good afternoon, councilors.

1:37:55Thank you for having me.

1:37:55My name is Desiree Ida Ocampo.

1:37:57I'm the executive director of Rahab Sisters.

1:38:00We are a day center in East Portland along 82nd Avenue serving women, trans, and genderqueer individuals experiencing homelessness, poverty, and housing insecurity.

1:38:09I'm here to support the package as written and also echo the sentiments of Councilor Murillo and many of the— many, um, before me have already testified, um, especially about social housing.

1:38:22Um, but I'm here to also speak directly with the line item Number 1, as written without amendments, because it prioritizes allocating $5 million to support households at risk of losing housing before facing eviction.

1:38:36And the key thing here to underscore is before facing eviction.

1:38:40I want to underscore also that it is exponentially more cost-effective to intervene with eviction prevention, housing stability efforts before an eviction is filed.

1:38:50At Arab Sisters, we can help prevent eviction for up to 10 households, if not more.

1:38:54Who are at risk of losing their housing, as opposed to only one household who has had an eviction notice for the same amount of money.

1:39:01But hearing Councilor Novick's numbers earlier today, I'm going to change that to 15.

1:39:08If the council wants to be prudent with these funds, it needs to keep the $5 million in line item 1A, and that is the fiscal response— uh, fiscally responsible thing to do.

1:39:17Thank you.

1:39:20Thank you.

1:39:22Good afternoon, Chair Avalos, Vice Chair Green, and members of the committee.

1:39:26My name is Saheim McKelvey, and I am the Director of Advocacy and Engagement at Self-Enhancement, Inc. SEI is here today in support of this proposed ordinance, and we would also support Councilor Pirtle-Guiney's amendments.

1:39:38However, the primary thing we want to say is we urge you to move this forward as quickly as possible.

1:39:44These dollars represent a critical opportunity to make meaningful progress on housing Thank you, Councilor Smith.

1:39:54At SCI, we consistently see 3 areas that remain deeply underfunded and disproportionately impact the families we serve.

1:40:01These are rent affordability, eviction prevention, and real pathways to affordable homeownership.

1:40:06We appreciate that each of these priorities is reflected in this ordinance today.

1:40:11For families living month to month, facing rising rents or the constant fear of eviction, Thank you.

1:40:17In emergency planning, timing matters.

1:40:18Delays don't just slow outcomes, they deepen harm.

1:40:21For those experiencing homelessness or displacement, we can't wait weeks or months to provide desperately needed help.

1:40:27Tomorrow is often too late.

1:40:30This is why expediency is essential.

1:40:32We strongly encourage the committee and council to align and approve this ordinance.

1:40:37There have been many ideas brought forward over the past 3 to 4 months by multiple councilors.

1:40:46Thank you.

1:40:47You have an opportunity, but only if action matches urgency.

1:40:52Our communities are counting on you to lead decisively and move with the speed that this moment demands.

1:40:57Thank you.

1:40:59I hate going after Hassan.

1:41:01Hi, thank you for letting me be here.

1:41:03My name is Iman Rutherford, also with Welcome Home.

1:41:06I'm a person that lived I'm a father of 2.

1:41:07I have lived experience, and I testified many times, but this is the first time I'm testifying saying that I'm not homeless.

1:41:13But because of how the system is working, I'm putting my— I might be back in a homeless situation because I can't afford to pay rent.

1:41:22I got 3 jobs.

1:41:24I do the best I can, but the system is not working with fathers to be a father to his child.

1:41:29And the system told me to come here to be a father to my kid, but they didn't care Councilmember?

1:41:33I don't think my kids would care about my about if I was homeless or not.

1:41:35So I'm hoping that you guys, you know, care about fathers and allow fathers to be there for their kids.

1:41:40That's what I was here for.

1:41:42And as my baby's mom celebrates her birthday, I'm here talking to you guys.

1:41:46And hopefully I don't be evicted.

1:41:49But I need help.

1:41:50So I need that rent assistance because I don't want to go back to a shelter.

1:41:54But after I leave here, I will be one of the people to do the wraparound services because my job is part of as Hygiene for All is to help give blankets and different things to people that's homeless.

1:42:04And, um, I talk to people that's homeless every day, and we need rent assistance.

1:42:09So that's mine.

1:42:14Once more for Michelle Ann Hornbick.

1:42:20Okay, we'll move on to Amanda Bowman Mejia.

1:42:26Ryan Salas, Gus Kroll, Lisa Jackson Spotted Elk, and Ms. Cheryl Carter.

1:42:36Amanda's joining us virtually.

1:42:37Feel free to unmute and begin when you're ready, Amanda.

1:42:42Dear City Council, I am here today to testify in support of the Keep Portland Housed ordinance.

1:42:48I'm a school social worker at Centennial School District, and I support many families who are unable to afford rent and are at risk of becoming homeless.

1:42:56My heart breaks when I hear of a family who needs rental assistance to stay housed because there are little to no resources to support our families.

1:43:04In particular, my immigrant and non-English speaking families have the highest barriers to getting rental assistance.

1:43:12When families experience homelessness, it greatly impacts their child's ability to attend school and thus impacts their learning negatively.

1:43:21Furthermore, chronic homelessness can greatly impact a child's chance of graduating due to the instability and trauma they Families in East Portland have the highest barriers to accessing resources due to historical and current institutional neglect.

1:43:37I urge you to prioritize our families in East Portland, as well as to ask that funds are distributed in a way that is accessible and transparent for our students and families.

1:43:47We do not need to waste time or money in creating new programs or systems that gatekeep funds from those who need it the most.

1:43:53Thank you.

1:43:53Thank you.

1:43:56Ryan, you're up next.

1:44:01Once more for Ryan Salas.

1:44:03Not seeing them online.

1:44:05Gus Kroll.

1:44:06Yeah.

1:44:09Oh, sorry.

1:44:10Where's the notes?

1:44:20Sorry, I had it up.

1:44:27Councilors, my name is Gus Kroll.

1:44:29I'm here speaking only for myself.

1:44:33I'm a proud member and union steward at AFSCME Local 88, Sublocal 3.

1:44:40I work for Transition Projects as a veterans Income development specialist.

1:44:47My job is to help vets who are receiving rental assistance to also look for employment.

1:44:53I have 15 years in the field of homeless services as well as personal lived experience of homelessness.

1:45:01Today I'm here to ask you to do your best to retain the highly skilled and culturally competent staff that serve unhoused community every day.

1:45:11This work is hard and it is not for everyone.

1:45:14We want to ask that the members of this council to do what they can to make sure that the services that are paying for— the services that you are paying for are the ones our poorest neighbors deserve.

1:45:29That means drawing on the service providers with a depth of knowledge and experience instead of shopping around for the cheapest contractors.

1:45:39I'm here today to support Commissioner Avalos's proposal, but also to ask you to retain the skilled workers who know how to do this work and the people with the— with the people with the most barriers to getting stayed into housing long-term, because investing in skilled staff means better outcomes for our most vulnerable community members in the long-term.

1:46:02Thank you.

1:46:03Thank you.

1:46:05Lisa, you can go ahead.

1:46:09Or if there's no Lisa, Miss Cheryl.

1:46:13Good afternoon, councilors.

1:46:16My name is Cheryl, Miss Cheryl, and I'm a part of this community, have been for more than 16, 20 years maybe.

1:46:26But what I came to say today is we We have to help this crisis.

1:46:32I've been a part of TPI.

1:46:34I'm now a part of OHEI.

1:46:37I'm also a part of Multnomah County.

1:46:40Those are boards that I sit on, and those are boards that I believe in that will help curb some of this.

1:46:49I live downtown at Jefferson and 11th Southwest.

1:46:55And I see this every day.

1:46:59When shelters are closed, what happens?

1:47:03When agencies for addictions, mental health curve, I see what happens.

1:47:11A lot of them live in front of my building, and I would like to see a lot of this cleaned up because I experienced homelessness for more than 8 years, and I'll tell you, if we don't do something, if we don't curb this, the crime rate will skyrocket, and it will be overnight.

1:47:37So I thank you guys for allowing all of us who have spoken to come and let you guys know That in the streets, it's real.

1:47:50In these boardrooms, it's real also.

1:47:53But we have to do something because we have this power.

1:48:00Thank you.

1:48:00And in the voice of Dr. Maya Angelou, still I rise.

1:48:07Thank you.

1:48:09Next we have Raina Casey.

1:48:12Madison Moskowitz.

1:48:15Pastor Mark Jackson.

1:48:17Lauren Armony.

1:48:20Pastor David Greenidge.

1:48:21Devin Ruiz.

1:48:37And Ryan, now feel free to begin when you're ready.

1:48:45Perhaps no, Raina.

1:48:47Once more.

1:48:50You can go ahead, Madison.

1:48:57No, Madison.

1:49:01Once more.

1:49:02Okay, Pastor Mark.

1:49:05Yeah, thank you.

1:49:05Uh, Pastor Mark Jackson, board member for Oasis of Praise.

1:49:07I want to one, to just appreciate the investment allocation Thank you, Councilor Smith.

1:49:11Thank you, Councilor Smith.

1:49:11I appreciate your presentation toward SCI, Williams and Russell, and also Hacienda.

1:49:14I'm here today just to again to call to your attention the important work that Oasis of Praise has been doing in District 3 around housing services, behavioral mental health supports, and whatnot.

1:49:25Southeast Portland, inner Southeast Portland, is a real service desert, and we've been doing special work for nearly 3 decades now.

1:49:32And I guess I wish you all would consider again our capital project request to really kind of acquire, to renovate space to include a community resource center to continue all the great work we've been doing to address the drugs around our community, the homelessness, where we provide not just rental assistance but also temporary housing, as well as warming centers and also access to showers.

1:49:56So as you all continue to explore these funds being allocated, consider the great work being done in District 3 with Oceans of Praise.

1:50:04Thank you so very much.

1:50:07I'm also Pastor David Greenidge, and I've known Pastor Mark Jackson for many years and support his work.

1:50:13I also used to be the executive director of Constructing Hope, an organization that helps prior offenders with jobs in the construction industry, and we did affordable housing.

1:50:23Really, really excited about what Oasis of Praise is doing.

1:50:26They've been in Portland metro areas, Pastor Jackson has stated, for many years.

1:50:31They are serving people with crisis response, emergency management, mental health services for the poor, family counseling, social life skills, youth and family outreach programs, business consulting, resource information sharing, hot meals, community clothes closet, warming center, shower facilities, hygiene products, rental assistance.

1:50:52The last thing is rental assistance that they, as well as the Coalition of African and African American Pastors, Distributed over $1 million to help people.

1:51:01The money went fast.

1:51:02The need is great.

1:51:03So we fully support Oasis of Praise and the other organizations that need help at this time.

1:51:08Thank you.

1:51:11Lauren, I believe you're up next.

1:51:13Thank you.

1:51:15Chair Avalos, Vice Chair Green, and the rest of the City of Portland Housing and Permitting Committee.

1:51:19My name is Lauren Armony, and although I work with the Welcome Home Coalition, I am speaking on behalf On behalf of myself in support of the Keep Portland Housed proposal.

1:51:28I was born and raised in Southeast Portland, and I graduated from Cleveland High School.

1:51:33Go Warriors!

1:51:34I have watched the city that raised me, that I love, grow increasingly unaffordable and continue to witness the impacts of that unaffordability.

1:51:44Myself and the people I went to school with and grew up with are not only unable to afford the neighborhoods that we grew up in, We are ending up homeless like myself.

1:51:54Portland can no longer be said to be the place where young people go to retire, which was the appeal for so many people who moved here the past 20 years.

1:52:01We have the incredible opportunity to use these supplemental funds to target upstream measures that will stabilize and protect Portlanders.

1:52:08My colleagues uplifted my other concerns, so I want to speak to the one I am most excited about, and that is social housing.

1:52:15And call it what it is, social housing.

1:52:17I was one of the lucky individuals to join the delegation to Vienna this past September, and it was the first time in my life I left the United States.

1:52:24And it was also the first time in my life that I felt the visceral effects of a city and government that truly supported its residents.

1:52:31Housing was beautiful and affordable.

1:52:33Transit arrived every 3 to 5 minutes.

1:52:36And yes, there were sausage and döner kebab stands every 10 blocks.

1:52:39They may have started 100 years ago, but they had to start somewhere.

1:52:43We have the chance to start today.

1:52:44Thank you.

1:52:46With these like record low market rate housing opportunities for acquisition, please look ahead to a more diverse, dignified, and beautiful future and fully invest in the allocations for social housing.

1:52:55Thank you, Devin.

1:52:59I believe yep.

1:53:01Chair Avalos, Vice Chair Green, and members of the committee, my name is Devin Ruiz.

1:53:05I'm a D2 Culley resident and a lobbyist for Next Step.

1:53:08We're a local nonprofit that works to amplify.

1:53:10The voice and leadership of diverse young people to make a more just and equitable Oregon.

1:53:15Since 2022, Next Step has paid all program participants this year starting $23 an hour because we know that despite housing being a human right, our young people are being crushed by this manufactured affordability crisis.

1:53:29All Portlanders deserve to have access to stable and secure housing, and as such, we urge you to pass the Keep Portland— Keep Portland Housed resolution.

1:53:36Resolution with amendments suggested by the Welcome Home Coalition.

1:53:39As someone who was raised in a studio apartment by a single mother in a city that luckily had rent control, I want to see all Portland Housing Bureau dollars directed towards the people that need this most.

1:53:49The city and its residents feel every day how expensive housing is, and we know that preventing evictions before they occur is the most cost-efficient way to address homelessness and protect low-income renters.

1:54:01Focusing on programs like debt buydowns, homeownership, social housing, and acquisition create pathways for sustainable housing going forward.

1:54:09I do not believe in housing dollars going back to the general fund or giving limited public tax funds to developers who will create more unaffordable housing opening in 5+ years.

1:54:20We know that that's not where the need is.

1:54:22We need public funds to create more affordable housing today.

1:54:26These dollars have been held from the community for Next up we have Annie Berry, Andy Mendenhall, Justice Reggie, Beth Cook, Colleen Carroll.

1:54:49Thank you, Councilor Annie, feel free to begin when you're ready.

1:55:02Hello, committee members.

1:55:03Thank you so much.

1:55:04And, um, I'd like to speak on the $100+ million that was discovered in unspent housing funds.

1:55:11I'd also like to point out that we had a homelessness and housing committee which was originally credited with finding these funds but was disbanded only 2 Thank you.

1:55:20Only in the last 2 weeks.

1:55:22And now we just have the Housing Committee.

1:55:25And these funds now appear to only be applicable potentially to housing and housing options.

1:55:34And I think that we as a public lack clarity on why that is.

1:55:40Homelessness services and PDX, especially in Old Town, have been facing severe financial challenges.

1:55:46Grants are underfunded.

1:55:47Services which have existed for years are not receiving the funds that they need to be sustainable.

1:55:57I think if we could see the funds be used to sustain houselessness services, including housing, that already exists and are currently underfunded, I think I agree with most people here that this money should not be going to developers.

1:56:12It should not be going to long-term projects.

1:56:14Councilor Smith.

1:56:15It should be going to things that exist already.

1:56:18And I strongly also recommend some oversight and public accountability around these funds so that we can see where they're going and that they're going to places that are needed the most.

1:56:34And I think the public deserves clarity on why the homelessness committee has been disbanded and rebranded as Andy, you're up next.

1:56:49Good afternoon, Chair Avalos, Vice Chair Green, members of the committee.

1:56:53Andy Medlenhall, for the record, President and CEO of Central City Concern.

1:56:57In my brief time allotted, I want to address why there is such a significant demand for preservation dollars and offer some suggestions for consideration.

1:57:06As Mr. Cronin from Housing Oregon noted earlier, affordable housing providers, especially deeply affordable housing providers like Central City Concern, are frequently serving residents with untreated substance use disorder, severe mental illness, and increasing levels of aging and cognitive decline.

1:57:24These realities have changed over the past 6 years in particular and have fundamentally changed what it takes to operate housing safely and successfully.

1:57:32This is not theoretical, it's measurable.

1:57:34Very briefly, at Central City Concern, our partners at Health Share of Oregon cross-walked homelessness information with an analysis of high-acuity behavioral health folks, and in 2025, roughly half of the residents that we serve, more than 1,100 individuals, fell into one of those high-acuity behavioral health needs.

1:57:54So in recognition of the increasing cost, we'd like to ask council to do 3 things.

1:57:58First, prioritize the Second, allow flexible use of these funds for operating support, debt restructuring, capital repair, safety improvements, and supportive service stabilization.

1:58:14I'll hold the third.

1:58:15I do want to be very clear and just say that preservation funding is in no way, shape, or form a bailout.

1:58:22It is repayment for years of unfunded, underfunded, and neglected public housing.

1:58:27Thank you.

1:58:29Justice, feel free to go ahead.

1:58:36Peace.

1:58:37My name is Justice Rajeev.

1:58:38I'm the Director of Advocacy and Civic Engagement for the Urban League of Portland.

1:58:41I am a registered lobbyist with the City of Portland.

1:58:43The Keep Portland Housed package demonstrates the City Council taking action to move resources into action.

1:58:49It is the responsibility of government to meet the will and the needs of the people.

1:58:53As our representatives, that you assign our precious public dollars to actually do the work that the folks need.

1:59:02Housing is a complex issue, and all of the things addressed in the current package try to meet some of the mixed needs that are necessary to not only keep people housed, meaning rent assistance— that is one of the most effective ways to keep people in their housing— rent buydowns that make sure housing that is already affordable remains just that.

1:59:21Thank you.

1:59:21Affordable, and also creating space to create— to fix and fill the gaps in affordable housing projects so that we continue to allow our community-based organizations that are some of the leaders in the cutting edge of actually trying to connect development to the people and make it be centered on the people in the service of public dollars to do the will of the people and take care of folks, as opposed to primarily looking for profit or other folks' benefit or to make this city somehow more attractive to people who weren't going to come here anyway in the first place.

1:59:51With that, I will be, uh, very brief and, and try to model wrapping up as soon as possible.

1:59:57That I appreciate the, uh, the Pirtle-Guiney amendments and, um, look to and thank you for taking action to get these funds in action now.

2:00:09Next is Beth Cook.

2:00:12Good afternoon, Chair Avalos, Vice Chair Green, and members of the committee.

2:00:15For the record, my name is Beth Cook, Chief Advocacy Officer with New Narrative.

2:00:19We are a nonprofit community mental health provider serving adults across the greater Portland region.

2:00:24New Narrative is in strong support of Councilor Pirtle-Guiney's amendment allocating $3 million for general operating support for deeply affordable non-market housing.

2:00:32I want to briefly share an example that illustrates a strong gap in our system.

2:00:36The Bridgeview Community is a 47-unit single-room occupancy housing program in downtown Portland.

2:00:41It serves people with severe and persistent mental health conditions who are transitioning out of homelessness, the state hospital, and other institutions.

2:00:49Bridgeview provides 24/7 support, onsite case management, and daily structure so people can remain stable and housed.

2:00:56Each resident holds their own lease, and the building is supported through mission-based property management.

2:01:01Most people have never heard of Bridgeview, but programs like it are essential for people whose needs are not met by traditional housing and who do not qualify for institutional care.

2:01:11These PSH Plus programs fall in between funding systems that were not designed to support people with this level of need.

2:01:17Thank you.

2:01:18Most resources are designed either for independent housing with minimal services or licensed treatment settings that can bill Medicaid.

2:01:25This type of deeply affordable, service-rich housing does not fit cleanly into either category.

2:01:30As a result, it is often sustained through short-term funding, underfunding, as you heard, or left unsupported altogether.

2:01:37At the same time, there is growing interest in this model.

2:01:40The governor's recent Executive Order 2601 calls for the development of intensive, service-rich We already have programs doing this work today, and without ongoing operating support, we risk losing them.

2:01:53That is the gap that this amendment addresses.

2:01:56I urge your support.

2:01:57Thank you.

2:01:59Colleen, you're up next.

2:02:02Uh, hello to the committee.

2:02:03My name is Colleen Carroll, and I'm a member of the research team with the Evicted in Oregon Project at Portland State University.

2:02:09I'm not here to testify, but I by would like to say that I'm a proud member of the in support of or against any particular ordinance or package, but to summarize some of our research project's findings that are related to eviction prevention and diversion.

2:02:23Evicted in Oregon, for the past 6 years, has been researching evictions in Oregon.

2:02:30As you've heard, eviction is a complex, multi-step legal process, and our project project publishes data statewide and at the county level, as well as evaluates eviction prevention and eviction diversion policies and programs, and has conducted research assessing tenant experiences of eviction in Oregon.

2:02:52Our research concludes that legal services for tenants facing eviction, emergency rent assistance, and other eviction prevention measures should be understood as understood as a tourniquet, a life-saving measure to forestall the worst outcomes, not just a Band-Aid.

2:03:09Emergency rent assistance and legal support for tenants work well together.

2:03:14When tenants who received emergency rent assistance in addition to legal services, they had markedly better outcomes than tenants who received legal services alone.

2:03:25As you heard a little bit earlier from Becky Thank you.

2:03:48Next up, we have Councilor Dan Ryan, Sandra Comstock, Councilor Ryan.

2:04:09Hi, good afternoon, Chair Avalos, Vice Chair Green, and committee members.

2:04:14For the record, I'm Councilor Dan Ryan.

2:04:16I wanted to bring into focus something that we have thus far neglected to thoroughly publicly discuss.

2:04:23Our affordable housing partners are too often failing to provide stable, safe places for Portlanders to call home.

2:04:31As we all know, the ongoing challenges with Home Forward are well documented in the media.

2:04:36What I've learned from many Portlanders underscores these findings.

2:04:40People are concerned for their safety within their own homes.

2:04:45We know there are vacancy problems.

2:04:46Councilor Smith.

2:04:46Thank you, Mr. Mayor.

2:04:46I'm here to speak on behalf of Councilor Dan Ryan.

2:04:46We have a number of issues that we have raised over the last several years, maintenance issues, capital project backlogs, often involving behavioral wellness and substance abuse.

2:04:53I have 2 requests for my council colleagues.

2:04:56One, let's have a transparent discussion about accountability and identity and identify what success will look like as it relates to safety, living conditions, and vacancy rates for projects and organizations that are funded through tax dollars.

2:05:12Second.

2:05:13Second.

2:05:13City-funded housing awards should be include—.

2:05:16Should include achievable outcomes for partner organizations, providing data-driven performance metrics.

2:05:23I'm sharing today to advocate for residents who are afraid of going into the hallway of their own building.

2:05:31I trust you are receiving these emails and calls too.

2:05:35Please believe them.

2:05:37Please hold them in your heart.

2:05:44Sandra, you're up next.

2:05:46Thanks.

2:05:46I'm Sandra Comstock, the executive director of Hygiene for All, and, um, I'm here today to ask you to please vote for the ordinance before you as is.

2:05:56It is the first step towards a unified, swift, regionally shelter and streets to housing strategy and away from the city's Thank you.

2:06:04I would like to thank Mayor Wheeler and Mayor Wilson for their leadership on this issue.

2:06:04I have been working with them for the past 2 years to reverse the decades-long siloed shelter-only gambits of Mayors Wheeler and Wilson, which have sadly spiked homelessness and driven up economic and community costs.

2:06:14With the spending and outcome data in, it is clear what the— that the time for such evidence-free gambles is over.

2:06:22All our local data shows that investing in housing stability and paths to housing is the most effective way to reverse our terrible track record.

2:06:30Comparing 2025 costs and outcomes explains why.

2:06:34Specifically, in 2025, eviction prevention with rent assistance cost approximately $11,000 per person, where 92% of participants stayed housed.

2:06:45Permanent supportive housing cost $16,000 per person, where 92% of recipients stayed housed.

2:06:51By comparison, congregate shelter cost $37,000 Uh, per bed.

2:06:58However, because only 1 person got housed for every 2 beds operated, the real cost of that 1 person getting into, into housing was actually $82,179.

2:07:10Meanwhile, the Safe Rest Task Villages cost $51,000, average of $51,000 per pod.

2:07:16However, because only 1 person, uh, got housing for every 4 pods operated, the real cost To housing, uh, one person in the village was $244,530.

2:07:29Thank you.

2:07:30Thanks.

2:07:31Thank you.

2:07:35Next is Kai.

2:07:37Kai's online.

2:07:37You're welcome to unmute and begin when you're ready.

2:07:41Thank you.

2:07:42Hello, councilors.

2:07:43My name is Kai Jensen, and I've lived in Portland for 13 years.

2:07:48I've experienced housing instability for much of that time, and I've lived at 11 different addresses while being a teacher, a nonprofit worker, and a civil servant.

2:08:01Obviously, I'm a renter.

2:08:04I have myalgic encephalomyelitis, or ME, which has many common traits with long COVID.

2:08:11I've been able to work full-time with accommodations over the past 8 years since, um, this chronic illness started, but my condition continues to worsen.

2:08:21I worry that soon I'll be unable to work and unable to afford to remain housed in my studio apartment while waiting through the disability benefits process.

2:08:31I have no wealth and no family to fall back on.

2:08:35Trying to navigate the overnight shelter system and day systems that currently exist would kill me.

2:08:45As a 17-year-old, I was homeless, and I don't want to repeat that experience.

2:08:50I should be able to stay in my community even though I'm disabled.

2:08:55There are plenty of other people who have a variety of reasons why they might be one unexpected bill away from eviction.

2:09:05My neighbors and I deserve dignity and permanent housing, I think that it is vital that we explore things like community land trusts and other, uh, innovative solutions so that everyone who calls Portland home has a safe place to live that's different than a cot to sleep on.

2:09:27Thank you.

2:09:29Thank you for your time.

2:09:30Thank you.

2:09:33Next is Erin.

2:09:35Hello, my name is Erin Fairchild.

2:09:37I'm speaking in my capacity today as a human, as a business owner, and as a member of a collective of local business owners called Portland Businesses for All.

2:09:45Thank you all for your work.

2:09:47As business owners, we know that when all Portlanders thrive, our businesses thrive.

2:09:51As business owners, we want eviction prevention, we want debt buydowns, and we want public acquisition of underutilized private market property.

2:09:59We are business owners who want our city to prioritize policies that create real pathways to low-barrier, stable, social permanent housing.

2:10:08We are not interested in prioritizing profits over human lives, and we know that our success as businesses is bound to the success of all of our community members.

2:10:17Many of us as small business owners are actually just a few bad revenue months away from homelessness, and many small business owners are gig workers being exploited by the same systems and corporations that fuel this housing crisis.

2:10:30Additionally, connected and cohesive neighborhoods with investments in affordable housing, not congregate night-only shelter, prevent multiple forms of violence and crime, including those types of violence that most impact children and youth.

2:10:43These are all better for our businesses.

2:10:46As humans with hearts and with businesses, we know that not a single person in this city should be made to feel like they are disposable or trash to be swept away.

2:10:55It's deeply disappointing that this money was lost, but now it's found, and our City Council must do the right thing now.

2:11:02Local business owners are in support of the Keep Portland Housed ordinance minus the Novak amendments.

2:11:08Thank you.

2:11:11Mabi, you're up next.

2:11:13Good afternoon.

2:11:14My name is Mabi Munoz.

2:11:16I am a housing real estate consultant and a member of the Portland Metropolitan Association of Realtors.

2:11:21I've spent over 25 years helping Portland families build stability through homeownership.

2:11:26We cannot solve the housing crisis if we only focus on survival.

2:11:30Rental support matters, but we also need to invest in homeownership because ownership is how families stay and communities stabilize.

2:11:37Thank you.

2:11:38Right now, median home prices are around $500,000 to $550,000.

2:11:43Buyers need $20,000 to $40,000 upfront.

2:11:46At the same time, many families, especially Black and Latino households, earn far below what's needed to compete in today's market.

2:11:54In my business, about 75% of my clients need down payment assistance.

2:11:58They can afford the mortgage; they cannot afford to overcome the upfront cost after years of rising rent.

2:12:04Displacement doesn't end with another lease; it ends when a family can finally buy a home.

2:12:10That's why reducing down.

2:12:16Next group, we have Connor Lennon, Jordan Lewis, Dwight Minnie-Weather, Mario DeLeon, Garland Woodsong.

2:12:45And feel free to begin when you're ready, Jordan— or I'm sorry, Connor.

2:12:51Thank you.

2:12:52For the record, my name is Connor Lennon.

2:12:54I'm here today in support of most of the underlying budget ordinance for the Housing Bureau.

2:13:00We are living in a time where the cost of living is high, and for many of us We're paying most of our income straight into rent.

2:13:07We need rental assistance, but we also need to look towards a long-term solution.

2:13:12I believe the answer we need is social housing.

2:13:15We need to begin to land bank now.

2:13:19We are paying more for less, so why not start paying less for more?

2:13:24Social housing will get us more.

2:13:27In other countries, renting is cheaper than owning.

2:13:29Thank you.

2:13:30And residents can count on that.

2:13:32Here in Portland, Oregon, the only thing we can count on is a mayor that tries to make backdoor deals with code names before begging for money for a shelter system that is not working, that we cannot keep up with.

2:13:43This is a system that we can outpace, but we need to start now.

2:13:48I do not want to see any of this money go back into the general fund, and I definitely don't want to use it to see it used for the Broadway Corridor Project.

2:13:55Thank you.

2:13:58The current reality Portlanders face cannot be our long-term reality.

2:14:05Rental assistance now and long-term social housing is how we take care of us.

2:14:09Thank you.

2:14:13Jordan, you're up next.

2:14:14Hello, Housing Committee.

2:14:15My name is Jordan Lewis.

2:14:16I'm a volunteer lobbyist with the Portland Democratic Socialists of America.

2:14:20I'm testifying in support of the underlying budget recommendation.

2:14:22Budget ordinance for Portland Housing Bureau with some changes I will get into shortly.

2:14:26But first, some context: If you have a budget, if you have a college degree or over the age of 50, you may not be aware of how bad it is out here for younger people who mostly rent.

2:14:37But it's really, really bad.

2:14:39My generation spends most of their time hanging out in basements because they can't afford to go out to eat.

2:14:45It's detrimental for society, actually, when no one can afford to go.

2:14:48Support their local businesses.

2:14:50I'm reminded of a testimony from last year's TAL where someone used the term gentrablite.

2:14:56And when you suggest to most electeds the main issue is rent, the $1,500 check they have to cash every month, they look at you like you're nuts.

2:15:04But that is the truth.

2:15:06Back onto the amendments.

2:15:07I'm opposed to money going into the general fund when we know our mayor is probably going to blow it all on cruel congregate shelters that he has no Councilor Dan Ryan.

2:15:16I'm also generally opposed to market project gap funding, except some special cases.

2:15:21I say as someone who personally likes new market development in the urban core, but they're just nice-to-haves.

2:15:28And last year we decided as a region that reliable bus service was a nice-to-have, so I'm just being consistent here.

2:15:37Market development is nice to have while social housing, rent assistance, and Hello, I'm Pastor Dwight Minnewether.

2:15:54I'm the executive director of Straightway Services and also the site operator of Oak Street Village, where there are 29 tiny houses.

2:16:03And I'm here representing those people today that are seeking to move from the shelter into their own homes.

2:16:08Thank you.

2:16:09Permanent housing.

2:16:10And the issue that we're having is not the motivation of the people wanting, it's just that we have nowhere or no funding or ways to put them in the places they're desiring.

2:16:20As we have entered into our contract here, our first year we met our metric at 5 move-outs, and this year already in the beginning of our year we have 5.

2:16:31So we're meeting the metric even without the support.

2:16:33So we're imagining how much more could happen.

2:16:35Thank you.

2:16:37And if the things that we're talking about— I, I would say pretty much arguing about and, and not coming to a, a solution— that needs to be happening now.

2:16:45So I just suggest that we do it now.

2:16:48Whatever we're going to do, let's do it now.

2:16:53Mario, you're up next.

2:16:55How we doing?

2:16:56It's my first time up here, so I'm kind of nervous.

2:17:00Um, thank you.

2:17:01Uh, my name is Mario DeLeon.

2:17:02Uh, I've been I've been in Portland since 1989.

2:17:06I'm a local artist, local muralist here.

2:17:08So it's safe to say, you know, I've seen the rising cost of what it is to live in Portland and in East County.

2:17:17I grew up on the other side of the 205.

2:17:20You know, now is, is even living in the barrios, rent is as much as it would have used to be in the Pearl District when I was in high school, and it's getting ridiculous.

2:17:30And if it wasn't for Um, rental assistance, even, even my small business wouldn't be able to function, you know.

2:17:39And it's something that people, we need.

2:17:41As a father, as a father of 2 daughters, right, who, uh, supports his family off one income, um, if it wasn't for rental assistance, sometimes I wouldn't be able to make it.

2:17:52My daughters wouldn't have a place to live.

2:17:54So, um, any— anything that we can do to make this happen, to make rental assistance happen immediately for people.

2:18:01Um, we need it, we need it now.

2:18:02People need it now.

2:18:04So, and that's, that's it.

2:18:07Thank you.

2:18:08Thank you, and great job for your first time.

2:18:10Thank you.

2:18:12The final group is going to be Garland Wutsong, Rachel Hemmingson, Michelle Sheehan, Waylett Thomas, Diana Nunez.

2:18:27And I believe Garland is joining us online.

2:18:29You're welcome to unmute and begin when you're ready.

2:18:32Good afternoon, councilors.

2:18:35My name is Garland Woodsong with the Oregon Cooperative Housing Network.

2:18:40I'm here to urge you to prioritize using available funds to acquire existing housing and convert it into community ownership, including limited equity co-ops supported by a meaningfully capitalized revolving loan fund.

2:18:52This approach will create permanent affordability without ongoing subsidies, stabilize residents right now by preventing displacement, and deliver housing faster using buildings we already have.

2:19:02There's also a bigger issue here.

2:19:05If all new multifamily housing is rental, then as we grow up rather than out, we are locking in a future where most people cannot access ownership.

2:19:16Co-ops provide a pathway to ownership within multifamily housing.

2:19:20Which is essential for an equitable future.

2:19:23This is a chance to turn one-time public dollars into permanently affordable community-owned housing.

2:19:29I would also urge caution in how these funds are deployed.

2:19:33Rather than transferring them out of housing and into the general fund, or assigning them to a small number of projects without a clear process, this is an opportunity to establish a revolving.

2:19:48Thank you.

2:20:06Rachel is up next.

2:20:09Good afternoon, I'm Rachel Hemmingson.

2:20:10I'm an East County resident.

2:20:11Thank you, Mayor Gallego.

2:20:13And ditto to Garland Woodsong.

2:20:16Yeah, I'm here pretty much to support the same thing he's speaking about, which is creating community housing.

2:20:22I have been one of Oregon's very first seniors real estate specialists for over 20 years.

2:20:27I'm also part of the age-friendly movement for about 15 years, part of the— yes, the village movement since its inception, Oregon Gerontological Association.

2:20:37I've been Thank you very much.

2:20:41So I've been working up close and personally with people, and there is a lot of underutilized housing in this city.

2:20:48And I have been looking for how do we create pathways to create affordable housing through existing housing.

2:20:54And so this idea of purchasing and creating community housing is near and dear to my heart.

2:20:59And also I've been learning, and it's a somewhat complicated issue, but I've been learning about the use of co-ops, and I think it is a key element to creating ownership opportunities for people in these existing properties rather than creating more rentals.

2:21:14So that's what I'm here to support.

2:21:16Let's see if there's anything else I want to say.

2:21:19Let's do it.

2:21:23Michelle, you're up next.

2:21:25Yes, good afternoon, councilors.

2:21:27Thank you for your time today.

2:21:29My name is Michelle Sheehan.

2:21:30I'm a realtor here in Portland, and I'm a member of the Portland Metro Area of Realtors, and I work every day with families trying to find stability in this market.

2:21:40I want to speak to why homeownership needs to be a bigger part of this funding conversation.

2:21:45Over the past several years, the city has made important investments in homelessness response and rental stabilization, and that work matters, but homeownership changes the trajectory entirely.

2:21:58When a family owns their home, their housing payment becomes predictable, not just for a lease cycle but for the long term.

2:22:06There's no surprise rent increase, no uncertainty year to year, and while they're making that payment, they're building equity, they're building a future.

2:22:17In my work, I meet people who are ready.

2:22:20They have stable jobs, They qualify for a mortgage, but they can't get past the down payment.

2:22:26That's the barrier.

2:22:28And when we help them cross it, everything changes, not just for them, but for the broader housing system.

2:22:35A renter becomes a homeowner, a rental opens up, pressure eases across the market.

2:22:41That's the triple effect we don't often talk about.

2:22:46Right now, we are helping too few buyers to make a meaningful impact.

2:22:52If we want different outcomes, more stability, less displacement, real pathways to equity, then homeownership needs to be part of the strategy, not as an afterthought but as a priority.

2:23:05Thank you.

2:23:08Next is Waylett.

2:23:12Good afternoon, City Council members of Portland.

2:23:15I want to speak plainly because this Because what we are experiencing in the city demands honesty and simplifies language.

2:23:22I don't know if I'm alone in this, but I am tired of walking through our city and being forced into a degrading daily reality, looking down at the sidewalk and wondering whether what I am seeing came from a human being or an animal.

2:23:37That should never be normal, and yet here we are.

2:23:41Let's be clear, this is not simply a sanitation issue.

2:23:44This is not about inconvenience.

2:23:46This is about the visible, unavoidable evidence of a system that is failing its people at the most basic level.

2:23:53When human beings are forced to live without access to housing, restrooms, or stability, this is the outcome.

2:24:00No person, no man, no woman or child should be sleeping in the streets surrounded by insects, rodents, and exposures in the city with resources and capacity that Portland has.

2:24:11So I ask you all, why are we still responding with temporary fixes to a permanent problem?

2:24:17Why are we tolerating conditions that degrade both those experiencing homelessness and the broader community?

2:24:23If we are serious about addressing the crisis, then a response must match the scale of the problem.

2:24:28We need to invest in the housing that is truly accessible, not just theoretically available.

2:24:33We need strong, proactive Eviction prevention so families do not fall into homelessness.

2:24:41We need coordinated long-term strategies designed to reduce and ultimately end homelessness, not just to move it from one block to another.

2:24:48Because cleaner streets are not achieved through displacement, they're achieved through stability.

2:24:54Stability.

2:24:55Thank you.

2:24:56We're out of time.

2:24:57Appreciate you.

2:24:59Next is Diana.

2:25:02Good afternoon, Chair Avalos, Vice Chair Green, and members of the committee.

2:25:05For the record, my name is Diana Nunez-Caceres, and I'm the Chief Operating Officer of Hacienda CDC.

2:25:10I'm here to advocate for the direct allocation for the existing project in North Portland that Councilor Pirtle-Guiney has put forth in the amendment.

2:25:18As my CEO has briefed you over the past several weeks, this project is half-built and was abandoned over a year ago by former developers.

2:25:26The metro regional government approached us to seek advice on us and asked whether we could do anything to save this project.

2:25:31Including preserving millions of taxpayer dollars already invested.

2:25:35Monarcha is ready to deliver 57 new 2 and 3-bedroom affordable rental home units at 60% AMI or below to the Overlook neighborhood.

2:25:44Formerly known as Minnesota Places, this project was abandoned before it could deliver on its problem— promise of publicly funded affordable housing.

2:25:52In December, OHCS committed the maximum allowed LIHTC allocation plus additional funding For almost $14 million to Hacienda to save this building.

2:26:01Due to the cost of reconstruction and upgraded livability and sustainability features, we still need $3.5 million to complete our financing and bring these units to the people of Portland.

2:26:11Once funded, our team is ready to deliver these units on an 8 to 10 month construction schedule, providing rapid relief to the city's families struggling with unaffordable rents.

2:26:20This is homes for families in the next—.

2:26:22By the end of this year.

2:26:23Thank you.

2:26:24We respect— we respectfully request $3.5 million from the City Council's allocation.

2:26:29What is at stake is if this project does not receive local support, it will be foreclosed, compounding the city's challenges in attracting investment to Portland.

2:26:38Additionally, the city will lose 57 new housing units for— for prop— to a for-profit developer who will acquire this building for pennies on the dollar.

2:26:45Thank you.

2:26:46Thank you.

2:26:46Appreciate that.

2:26:49Okay, that is the end of our list.

2:26:50Yes.

2:26:52Thank you, everybody, for being here, for your testimony.

2:26:54We are going to take a very quick 10-minute break.

2:26:57We'll be back at 4:32.

2:37:17Here we go.

2:37:23All right, we're going to call this meeting back at 4:32.

2:37:27So, um, folks, we've got, uh, quite a few amendments to discuss, and, um, we've been given the okay to go until 5:30 if needed, but that is a hard So let's do our best to get through this within the next hour.

2:37:44As far as who would like to go first in proposing their amendments, I don't really have a preference.

2:37:48Is there any— Councilor Novick, are you— do you want to put your things forward?

2:37:54Councilor Pirtle-Guiney, you two can duke it out.

2:37:57Who wants to go first?

2:37:58Councilor, I'm happy to go ahead, but if you'd like to go first with some of yours, that's fine.

2:38:04I'll go ahead if that's okay.

2:38:06Um, so, um, Novick 3 again would— uh, one significant part of it is that it would allocate the entire $8.6 million from the transient lodging tax to the general fund.

2:38:18And I heard people say they don't want this money going to the general fund.

2:38:23I was trying to use— economizing my words at the beginning.

2:38:26I did not explain what the general fund does.

2:38:27The general fund goes to public safety, including police, fire, and other public safety entities like Portland Street Response and Community Violence Prevention funds, and it goes to parks.

2:38:38That's where the bulk of it goes.

2:38:39We are going to be in this tough budget system season.

2:38:44We are going to be making cuts to those things, and I want— and we are going to be laying people off, and I want to avoid those cuts as much as possible.

2:38:54Now, I should say that in fire, it's likely that the cuts are going to come in District 4.

2:38:59Because that's where the tops— the bottom 6 stations in terms of call volume are.

2:39:05But I used to live in District 4, and I care about whether people in Hillsdale or Burlingame have fire protection too.

2:39:11So I strongly recommend that since we legally can direct $8.6 million to the general fund, that we do that.

2:39:18The rest of Novick 3, as I said before, instead of breaking out money for social housing and NOFAs, And for specific projects, would establish a $21 million revolving loan fund to address social housing and affordable housing preservation and a variety of other things, relying to the extent we're not buying things for city ownership largely on loans.

2:39:43So I would move that amendment.

2:39:46I would also move my amendment 2 that simply clarifies The kind of services that are involved in eviction defense.

2:39:55And alternatively, depending on which has the most support, amendments 1A and 1B, which would— one of which, 1A, would dedicate $6 million to rent assistance to people exiting sheltered housing.

2:40:09Andy Miller talked about the importance of that.

2:40:12And $3 million to rent assistance for people facing eviction.

2:40:17The alternate proposal would dedicate $6 million to people facing eviction and $3 million to people transitioning from shelter to housing.

2:40:26And again, I think it's important that that money be targeted.

2:40:29There's 30,000 families in this city that are severely rent burdened.

2:40:35They're paying more than half of their income on rent.

2:40:37We cannot help all of them.

2:40:39So I think that the judicious thing to do is to spend our money either on the people who are directly facing eviction, 16% of which will actually be evicted, and the majority of those will wind up homeless, or the people who already are homeless.

2:40:53So I move all 3 and a half of those amendments.

2:40:58Councilor Novick, if I could recommend that we try to do them one at a time just to make it a little simpler process-wise.

2:41:05So do you want to move Novick 3?

2:41:07It sounded like that one was most urgent to you.

2:41:10Can we just do that and then open that discussion and go from there?

2:41:13Sure.

2:41:14Okay, so Councilor Novick moves Novick 3.

2:41:17Do I have a second for that?

2:41:20I'll second it.

2:41:21Okay, seconded by Councilor Green.

2:41:23So now we will enter discussion on that amendment.

2:41:26Uh, Councilor Green, you're in the queue.

2:41:28Yeah.

2:41:29Thank you, Chair Avalos.

2:41:31Uh, Councilor Novick, um, I support Novick 3.

2:41:36Um, And I want to explain why.

2:41:40We're facing a $160 million budget deficit.

2:41:44And so even if the mayor found money for every part of his existing shelter program, every dollar that's in Portland Housing Bureau, we'd still have a significant deficit to close.

2:41:56And I am worried about closing fire stations.

2:42:00I am worried about making cuts into the parks And these are areas that come from the general fund, by the way, right after we passed the levy and we told voters that we were going to maintain the current service level.

2:42:13And so it's not my favorite thing to do in the world to move housing money into the general fund to fill a gap, but we were in a situation where we've lost control of our revenue structure a little bit.

2:42:22We're dealing with a critical juncture in our city.

2:42:26And so I'm going to support that piece of it, even though it wasn't something that I advanced in the first place.

2:42:31Thank you.

2:42:32Because the color of money makes it work too.

2:42:35I also support the added language that you have on Broadway Corridor that suggests— let's see here, make sure I orient myself.

2:42:46I'll tell you what, so if Novick 3 passes, I'm going to introduce another amendment, but it doesn't make sense unless Novick 3 passes.

2:42:54But my amendment will be to cut $800,000 from the fungible piece, that's the revolving loan thing, and put that into the bigger social housing revolving loan bucket for all the reasons we heard in testimony.

2:43:08The only reason I'm supporting any money going to Broadway Corridor is that there is $4.8 million of restricted money in the River District TIF, which can only be used for this type of purpose in that— in the Westside TIF District.

2:43:21And that's the only project that's on offer at this point.

2:43:24And we couldn't use that money for rent assistance.

2:43:27We couldn't use that money for any other purpose.

2:43:30So my support comes from that place.

2:43:31But I'm thinking after the testimony we heard, I think it should be $4.8 and not $5.6 million.

2:43:37And then finally, I think that collapsing the NOFA buckets and the social housing line item into one big kind of revolving loan fund social housing acquisition piece is an elegant solution to Something that I've grappled with, which is like sort of getting ahead of policy development, doing line item and by-name allocations to specific gap financing needs.

2:44:02If we just put a flag in the ground and say we're going to capitalize the revolving loan funding with this one-time money and explicitly name that it can be for social housing, it can also be for things that Garland mentioned about limited equity co-op conversions, then we can engage in a sort of competitive and directed process To make sure our projects don't stall out.

2:44:23Importantly, when Montgomery County did this in Maryland, they just capitalized the revolving loan fund and they were able to finish projects that were entitled, that were partially built, and they just needed that gap financing to get across the road.

2:44:36So I think about things like Hacienda being able to sort of apply competitively for this as well.

2:44:41So I'm supporting it for all these reasons.

2:44:43I don't think it moves me off of of my initial conception when we talked about the— in the housing work, the March 3rd work session anyway.

2:44:52So I appreciate the intervention, Councilor Novick.

2:44:55So I'm prepared to support Novick 3, and if that passes, I will introduce Green 1.

2:44:59Okay.

2:45:01Thank you.

2:45:01Councilor Pirtle-Guiney, did you want to speak to the amendment?

2:45:04I do.

2:45:04Thank you, Chair.

2:45:05Councilor Novick, I appreciate you bringing forward something that allows us to have the conversation about general fund.

2:45:12General fund, as you stated, supports public safety broadly and our parks system, both of which are facing critical cuts in this budget.

2:45:21We also can come back in our budget discussion to these funds and talk about any number of uses, including housing needs, if we determine that we didn't do enough today.

2:45:31We don't limit our flexibility.

2:45:33We increase our flexibility by doing this.

2:45:35And for that reason, I came in today prepared to be supportive of maximizing dollars going back to the general fund.

2:45:43I am still prepared to be supportive of maximizing dollars going back to the general fund.

2:45:48I am also supportive of creating a revolving loan fund to address our ability to acquire properties and bring them into public ownership to provide affordable housing in our community.

2:46:03But I can't support the deletion of what is currently item 8 or sub-item 8, which is ensuring that gap funding is available for some specific projects that are ready to go now.

2:46:17If, Councilor, you and your seconder on this are interested in an amendment that would restore what is currently subsection 8 in the original proposed, I would be interested in supporting, or if this fails in its current form and you are interested in bringing it back in that more narrow form, I would also be interested in supporting, but I can't support it with the deletion of Section 8.

2:46:43Thank you.

2:46:46Thank you.

2:46:47I put myself in the queue.

2:46:49I think Councilor or Vice Chair Green made all of the points that I would have made, and so I do plan on supporting.

2:46:56Councilor Koyama Lane.

2:46:59Thank you, Chair.

2:47:01I appreciate that Novick 3 proposes an increase to the amount available in the general fund.

2:47:07Expanding our flexibility is really important.

2:47:12There is a huge range of needs that we will need to address in our next budget.

2:47:19So thank you, Councilor Novick, for working on this.

2:47:21I want to acknowledge what we heard from community members who came to testify.

2:47:25Several folks expressed concern that shifting more resources into the general fund could ultimately result in those dollars being directly sent to the mayor's shelters, overnight shelters.

2:47:37And I want to be clear for the record, that's not how I'm interested in using those general fund dollars.

2:47:43I would also welcome hearing from my colleagues on the committee about their intentions.

2:47:49So we can make sure that those concerns are addressed and reassure the public.

2:47:56I also want to share that when I first saw the amendment, I did have— I was concerned that specific projects weren't named except Broadway Corridor.

2:48:07But now I understand from what folks have shared that this is specific to those TIF dollars for the River District, and they're restricted and have to be used in specific ways.

2:48:18So that's why Broadway Corridor is still named there, and that clarification was helpful for me.

2:48:23So I wanted to explain that.

2:48:25So overall, I appreciate the direction this amendment is taking, and particularly the creation of the revolving loan and social housing fund.

2:48:35I plan to support the amendment.

2:48:38Councilor Green?

2:48:39I'm just backing the staff.

2:48:45Oh, okay.

2:48:47Okay, so then is there any further discussion on Novick 3?

2:48:54Seeing none—.

2:48:55Oh, sorry, go ahead, Councilor Novick.

2:48:58I just wanted to say that, um, I think and I agree with what several of our colleagues have said over the past month and a half that Or so that we shouldn't become a grant-making organization.

2:49:08So I'm generally resistant to the idea of naming specific projects.

2:49:13And I think it would be a strong signal from this committee if we sent something out that does not name specific projects.

2:49:19I'm willing to backtrack sometimes in specific circumstances.

2:49:24And I hear Councilor Pirtle-Guiney about the Hacienda project, and I won't rule out the possibility that after she and Councilor Smith have had their chance to make their, their case for that at full council.

2:49:34I might go along with them, but for right now, I would like to have this clean package, which just, with the exception of Broadway Corridor for the reasons that Councilor Koyama Lane mentioned, just strips out all references to specific projects.

2:49:48Thank you, Councilor.

2:49:49With no further discussion, let's call the vote on Amendment Novick 3.

2:49:54We had a motion from Novick, seconded by Aye.

2:49:56Green.

2:49:58Pirtle-Guiney?

2:49:59No.

2:50:00Koyama Lane?

2:50:01Yes.

2:50:02Novick?

2:50:04Yes.

2:50:05Green?

2:50:06Yes.

2:50:07Avalos?

2:50:08Aye.

2:50:09With 4 ayes and 1 nay, the amendment is approved.

2:50:14All right, Councilor Green.

2:50:16Thank you, Chair Avalos.

2:50:18I'd like to move Green 1, which does just one thing.

2:50:22It amends the allocation to Broadway Corridor down to $4.8 million instead of $5.6.

2:50:30This should be in your inboxes.

2:50:33It strikes the reference to $800,000 loan from Portland Housing Bureau to complete capital stack.

2:50:39It strikes that same language from the funding source, and it adds $800,000 to the newly established revolving loans and social housing acquisition bucket.

2:50:51I think this is important for not just the reasons that we heard in testimony that we should not be taking the fungible sources of money that we have to actually allocate to a broad array of things and developing and plowing it into a for-profit developer's balance sheet, of which we don't even know the nature of their pro forma and whether or not they even need it.

2:51:15And we can put it in this bucket of— I think it's important for the Sort of a kitty for people to apply to competitively.

2:51:23And I think it actually offers a parity condition for folks who might be really worried that we just took out a number of by-name grant entities that were previously thinking, hey, we can get a grant of money to close my capital stack.

2:51:40If you take those out, why are you leaving in what is essentially a grant of money Even though it's a loan to another thing in my district, which is a for-profit developer.

2:51:49And so if we take that one piece out, they're pretty close to completing their capital stack.

2:51:53I'm sure the developers can find $800,000 in their deferred developer fees to get this thing over line.

2:51:59It's a $140 million project.

2:52:01So $800,000 on $140 million is not the reason why this thing won't get done.

2:52:06We're allocating $4.8 million from the TIF district to get it done.

2:52:09So I think this a pretty straightforward way to get some parity in play, especially since we've now amended out 2 projects in District 2.

2:52:19So that's my motivation.

2:52:21And I move Green 1.

2:52:24Do I have a second?

2:52:26I'll second it.

2:52:29Councilor Pirtle-Guiney.

2:52:31Thank you, Chair.

2:52:32Councilor Green, I know sometimes up here it's easy to think, okay, well, if we just do this Remove this piece, they'll be able to fill the gap.

2:52:42Have we had any conversations with folks at the Housing Bureau, with folks within this project, this specific development or the Broadway Corridor project more broadly, to understand if the removal of the $800,000 would essentially make the $4.8 million we're putting in useless because they need the $800,000 also?

2:53:03Can I direct respond to this?

2:53:05Um, that specific— I don't have an answer to that specific question on this specific intervention, but what I can tell you is I have met with Melvin Mark and I have met, um, uh, with, with agents associated with this development, and I have asked to see the pro forma, and they said, sorry, can't show you.

2:53:25What I do know is there's $4 million from their side that's Part of this capital stack of deferred developer fees.

2:53:32What I don't know is what's the rest of the developer fees?

2:53:36I understand that they're in the business of making money, but if they can't answer the question on whether or not they can find $800,000 after completing a very large public money stack, then I'm not really inclined to trust at that point.

2:53:51And so I think that part of what I'm up to today, and this is related to my interventions on the first item that we heard, is I'm really kind of tired of being told, sorry, you can't see my pro forma, you'll just have to trust me, and I need this.

2:54:06So you need to show your work.

2:54:08You need to demonstrate that if not for these monies, it won't happen.

2:54:13And I just have not received a satisfactory answer on that.

2:54:16Thank you, colleagues.

2:54:17I'm not opposed to moving in this direction after having the time to make sure that we are not Making the rest of our investment meaningless because the $800,000 is critical potentially.

2:54:31If this were something coming after we had time to ask about it, I might be able to support it.

2:54:36I can't support it today, but I am happy to consider it as we continue moving forward.

2:54:46Is there any other discussion on Green 1?

2:54:52Seeing none, let's move to a vote.

2:54:56On Green 1, we have a motion from Green, second by Avalos.

2:55:01Pirtle-Guiney?

2:55:02Aye.

2:55:03Koyama Lane?

2:55:05I'm sorry, you can change your— can I change that to a no?

2:55:08I was looking ahead to the next thing already.

2:55:11I've done it before too.

2:55:13No.

2:55:14One nay for Pirtle-Guiney.

2:55:18Aye.

2:55:19Aye.

2:55:21Aye.

2:55:22Aye.

2:55:23Aye.

2:55:24With 4 ayes and 1 nay, Green 1 is approved.

2:55:28All right, which next amendment are we moving into?

2:55:33Uh, Councilor Pirtle-Guiney, do you want to trade off?

2:55:36Uh, why don't you keep going and then I'll run through mine?

2:55:39Okay.

2:55:42Novick Amendment 1A would take the existing allocation of $9 million in rent assistance and shift it to $6 million in rent assistance to people exiting shelter to homelessness and $3 million to people facing— actually facing eviction.

2:55:59And I think I've already sort of explained my rationale for, for that.

2:56:04You are moving it?

2:56:04Yes.

2:56:05Yes.

2:56:06Moved by Councilor Novick.

2:56:08Is there a second?

2:56:11Councilor, this is 1B that you're moving or 1A?

2:56:16Uh, let's see.

2:56:17I hope I'm not getting it wrong.

2:56:18I thought it was 1— I thought 1A was, uh, um, hang on.

2:56:23Um, oh good Lord.

2:56:27Uh, am I not able to open my phone?

2:56:29I got you.

2:56:301A is the $3 million on B and Exactly.

2:56:36Yeah.

2:56:38Okay, I'll second.

2:56:41What?

2:56:41Okay, so it has been moved by Councilor Novick and seconded by Councilor Pirtle-Guiney.

2:56:48Um, any discussion?

2:56:50I'll put myself in the queue here.

2:56:51I'll just say, um, it is really critical that we support dollars before people face eviction.

2:56:59I think one key thing, um, a, a statistic that keeps being brought up is 16% of people facing eviction.

2:57:06But what's really important that's being missed there, there are a lot more people that prior, often before, instead of getting evicted, they make a deal with the landlord to just leave.

2:57:16And so that is still displacement.

2:57:19So I don't think we can rely on 16% being the number of who actually gets evicted.

2:57:24There are far more people that are not recorded in our numbers that are just simply getting pushed out.

2:57:30We heard one of our testifiers say that they had to move 11 times over the last couple of years that they've been in Portland.

2:57:36So, um, I think that is a critical, uh, amount of money that we need to protect.

2:57:40And importantly too, um, we, uh, there's news that came out that essentially now, um, more dollars are lost for families that are mixed status So there are a lot of children right now at risk of homelessness, children who are citizens, who were born in the States, and who have parents who were not born here and now have no access to any dollars because the federal government continues their campaign against our immigrant community.

2:58:07That is particularly impactful for East Portland.

2:58:11And so I do not plan on supporting this.

2:58:13We need to keep those dollars for people before they face eviction.

2:58:17That is a very Thank you, Chair.

2:58:31Colleagues, I have wanted us to spend funds on one-time things as much as possible in this package, but I know that there's a real interest in spending funding on rent assistance as well.

2:58:44And we heard today from many Portlanders about the need.

2:58:47And I've heard 2 things that really stand out to me in terms of why we have a one-time need right now.

2:58:54And as I'm looking at where we put dollars that we don't have continuously, that's what I'm looking for, are those arguments for a one-time need.

2:59:04I heard an argument that we need more money to support individuals who are currently experiencing homelessness because we know that the county is going to be closing a significant number of shelters, and we need to get those individuals into housing before they end up back on the streets.

2:59:21And I've heard, as our chair just said, that we have individuals who are facing eviction because their circumstances changed, because people in their family who are helping to support paying the rent have been evicted or are no longer able to work because of fear eviction.

2:59:38Those to me feel like one-time needs that we're facing that create an argument for spending these one-time dollars on rent assistance.

2:59:47And I'm very interested in thinking about how we can use this $9 million to support those needs as much as possible, because this amendment prioritizes one of those 2 needs— the assistance to people who will otherwise potentially be facing going back out onto I am interested in the conversation and in supporting.

3:00:13Thank you.

3:00:13Vice Chair Green.

3:00:17Yeah, I think that I'm going to be pretty firmly attached to making sure that we're investing in the upstream sources of homelessness, and I think making sure folks have access to affordable housing.

3:00:30Rental assistance before they're facing eviction proceedings is really important to me.

3:00:36I'm not opposed to adding more money to the other categories.

3:00:40I just don't want to take it away from that category.

3:00:43And as we get into the FY26-27 budget year, we're going to have some tough choices to make.

3:00:50And I'm prepared to take money away from sweeps.

3:00:54I'm prepared to take money away from some other things that I think are that cause harm to the unhoused community and put them in the bucket to say we're going to help you find a path home.

3:01:05That's what I'm prepared to fight for as we get into the bigger budget.

3:01:08But I can't take it away from this pre-eviction bucket as it's currently written.

3:01:14So I don't support 1A or 1B for that reason.

3:01:18Thank you.

3:01:18Councilor Koyama Lane.

3:01:20Thanks, Chair.

3:01:20I'll be quick.

3:01:22I agree all of those Those buckets in the rent assistance category are all very important.

3:01:28I can't support any amendment that is going to eliminate or reduce the funding for flexible short-term aid for households at risk of losing housing before facing eviction.

3:01:41Thanks.

3:01:43Thank you.

3:01:43That is the end of our stack.

3:01:47So let's go ahead and call the roll.

3:01:50Pirtle-Guiney?

3:01:51Yes.

3:01:52Koyama Lane?

3:01:53No.

3:01:55Novick?

3:01:59Yes.

3:02:00Green?

3:02:02No.

3:02:03Avalos?

3:02:04No.

3:02:05With 2 ayes and 3 nays, the amendment fails.

3:02:10Councilor Novick, which amendment would you like to do next?

3:02:13Uh, 1B.

3:02:13Yes.

3:02:151B again is sort of the reverse of 1A.

3:02:18It would allocate $6 million to rent assistance for people actually facing eviction and $3 million to people who are experiencing homelessness, trying to exit shelter for housing.

3:02:31And my rationale here is that it's very hard for us to know who is actually going to become homeless.

3:02:40If you look at the 30,000 people that are severely rent burdened.

3:02:44Some of them are going to wind up being homeless.

3:02:46A lot of them are not.

3:02:48But if people are actually facing eviction, the odds of becoming homeless go way up.

3:02:5416% Of people facing eviction actually being evicted is a high number.

3:03:00And as Chair Avalos pointed out, there's some people that leave even before they're evicted.

3:03:06And people who are evicted— there's a couple of studies, including one in Seattle, shows that a very high percentage of them wind up homeless.

3:03:14So I propose that we put the bulk of the $9 million into this category of people who are actually facing eviction.

3:03:25All right, so moved.

3:03:25Do I have a second?

3:03:31There is not a second.

3:03:33Are you about to second?

3:03:34No.

3:03:35I can second if we want to have the debate.

3:03:39No need.

3:03:40It's up to you.

3:03:40I mean, I'm going to vote no, but up to you.

3:03:43I heard the councilor say no need.

3:03:45So, all right, uh, 1B has failed.

3:03:48So what is your next one?

3:03:50You want to do it at 2?

3:03:51Oh, um, no, no, if it doesn't— sorry, go ahead.

3:03:55Uh, yes, and 2, um, simply lists, um, some of the elements of eviction defense.

3:04:02It was based on a conversation with Um, with, um, the Oregon Law Center, and I think they also workshopped it with other providers.

3:04:11And it just says $1.9 million in new funding for eviction defense services, including but not limited to full-scope legal representation, citywide intake services, legal case screening, eviction docket data collection analysis, courthouse clinic hours, legal education resources, case management relationships with rent assistance providers.

3:04:30Uh, to be administered by the Portland Housing Bureau.

3:04:33Funding may also be utilized for a right-to-counsel pilot to be launched in a limited geography that offers every household facing eviction in that geography access to legal assistance.

3:04:43And the idea here is to kind of— actually, kind of like Councilor Koyama Lane's amendment on discrimination against people in different family groups, to clarify that All of this is covered so that there's not a debate as to whether any of it is covered.

3:05:04Thank you.

3:05:05Are you formally moving?

3:05:06Yes.

3:05:07All right.

3:05:07Second.

3:05:08And a second by Councilor Koyama Lane.

3:05:10Councilor Koyama Lane?

3:05:12I had put my hand in, in the queue just to confirm that you had talked to the Oregon Law Center, um, and you answered that, and I just wanted to thank you for actually having those conversations.

3:05:24With folks in the community that have been doing this work.

3:05:27They've been working on the Oregon Eviction Defense Project for a long time, and I think it's something that we need to see more of, actually listening to the folks that are on the ground doing this work, the experts that have been supporting folks who are dealing with eviction.

3:05:42So thank you for that, and I'm, um, I will be voting yes.

3:05:49All right.

3:05:50Seeing no one else in the queue, let's call the roll.

3:05:55Pirtle-Guiney?

3:05:55Aye.

3:05:56Koyama Lane?

3:05:57Aye.

3:05:58Novick?

3:05:59Aye.

3:06:00Green?

3:06:01Aye.

3:06:02Avalos?

3:06:02Aye.

3:06:03With 5 ayes, the motion carries and Novick 2 Amendment is accepted.

3:06:07All right, and that's all of your amendments, right, Councilor Novick?

3:06:07That is correct.

3:06:07All right, Councilor Pirtle-Guiney?

3:06:07Aye.

3:06:07Koyama Lane?

3:06:07Aye.

3:06:07Novick?

3:06:07Aye.

3:06:07Green?

3:06:07Aye.

3:06:07Avalos?

3:06:07Aye.

3:06:07With 5 ayes, the motion carries and Novick 2 Amendment is accepted.

3:06:09All right, and that's all of your amendments, right, Councilor Novick?

3:06:12That is correct.

3:06:14All right, Councilor Pirtle-Guiney?

3:06:17Thank you, Councilor.

3:06:18I will start by moving Pirtle-Guiney 1.

3:06:21This creates, uh, more specific language in the debt buydown section.

3:06:27That is Section 3 of the ordinance before us.

3:06:31Um, it replaces what is there with language that says that, um, there are essentially 2 categories of use here.

3:06:40One is debt buydowns that enable targeted rent reductions, support for preservation and financial stability that could include returning units to market after they've been vacated, and for enabling ongoing security enhancements that we've heard many of these buildings are in desperate need of.

3:07:00Secondarily, the funds could be used for one-time security enhancements that provide ongoing security support to existing affordable housing facilities.

3:07:10We have this bucket of money one time.

3:07:13We should be using it for investments that create an ongoing benefit to the residents of these buildings.

3:07:22That's what we've talked about in all of our debates, and this would just clarify those types of uses.

3:07:28Councilor Green flagged for me that in rewriting the language, we lost the term non-market.

3:07:36Which could be important to have.

3:07:38And I would be happy in the title to say non-market affordable housing portfolio stabilization if that helps to bring confidence to all of you.

3:07:49I think that's something that I can just do as an on-the-fly amendment without needing to retype this up, but I'd look to the clerk and council ops staff to confirm.

3:08:00So, So Pirtle-Guiney 1 is as is with the addition of non-market at the beginning of the title.

3:08:08So it will say non-market affordable housing portfolio stabilization.

3:08:11Are we good with that, Clerk?

3:08:13Okay, um, great.

3:08:15Do I have a second?

3:08:17Second.

3:08:18All right, seconded by Councilor Novick.

3:08:20Uh, I put myself in the queue.

3:08:22Uh, that does help me a lot because that was one of my concerns.

3:08:26Um, I think that the way that it was originally written, you know, thank you for rewriting that the intent of the original is what you've essentially written out.

3:08:35My only concern, it's not enough to get me to vote no on it, but I think we tried to keep it broad to make sure that it could really, you know, capture a lot of what would qualify under operating support, which was always intended to have for things like security enhancements.

3:08:54But the reason I I'm like iffy about removing that language just because I just want— I don't want it to be— to feel so limited to just debt buydowns and security enhancements because there's lots of other aspects of the stabilization portfolio.

3:09:10I had a meeting with a bunch of affordable housing providers and they urged the flexibility, and that's why I wrote it in that way, especially because they're facing things like they're going— some buildings are going to have have to go without insurance, for example.

3:09:23And so being able to help cover some gaps on insurance would be critical.

3:09:27There's lots of other different things.

3:09:29So I guess I want to hear your intention here and, um, just make sure that we feel like that's going to be able to cover all of that, because you kind of narrowed it in a way, and I wanted it to be more broad.

3:09:42So can you speak to that?

3:09:43Yeah, thank you, Chair.

3:09:44I've also had a number of conversations with various housing And I think what I am looking at is if we have this one-time pot of funds, how do we make sure that our affordable housing providers are prioritizing uses that create an ongoing benefit for the Portlanders who live within their buildings?

3:10:09Not just, okay, we'll lower the rent over the next 6 months or 12 months.

3:10:13Thank you.

3:10:14But then we're going to run out of the money that we have.

3:10:16But we're going to take an action that will increase our cash flow over the long term so that that cash flow can be used for ongoing needs of residents and ongoing needs of the building.

3:10:29That's why I've focused on that debt buydown piece to increase cash flow.

3:10:34I also understand that there are buildings that have some one-time security needs, which again would create ongoing benefits.

3:10:39I think that's a good point.

3:10:40For the residents of those buildings, which is why we added that second section after a number of conversations.

3:10:48Okay, I appreciate that.

3:10:49Again, it's not enough for me to not vote for it.

3:10:53I totally agree with your intent.

3:10:54Just wanted to flag that.

3:10:55But I do think it still can meet that, especially with adding the non-market, because that was going to be my— that was going to be the thing that tipped me to not vote for it.

3:11:03So, and non-market was the intent there.

3:11:06We just, in keeping the heading, lost that word.

3:11:11I get it.

3:11:12Okay, Councilor, or Vice Chair Green.

3:11:15Thank you, Chair Avalos.

3:11:17I'm prepared to support Pirtle-Guiney 1 today.

3:11:21Thank you for clarifying that it's non-market.

3:11:26I think when I entered into this discussion, and I think when we first got the presentation in the Finance Committee, I was compelled by, I think, Councilor Smith.

3:11:34I was really inspired by many of my colleagues to chase down this rabbit, which almost felt like a, oh, by the way, we're doing this.

3:11:39But it's like, no, this is a big deal.

3:11:41Let's keep doing this.

3:11:42So the Portland Housing Bureau has been really pioneering on this.

3:11:45I wanted to do more of that.

3:11:46That expanded into conversations with Housing Oregon.

3:11:48That expanded into conversations with a number of providers.

3:11:51And my takeaway was we're facing a system threat to the holistic CDC and affordable housing Portfolio as a whole, and they have complicated interactions and different needs.

3:12:06And for me, clarifying that there's 2 classifications of one-time expenses is helpful, especially when we had been talking informally about this kind of like security need.

3:12:17I had a conversation with someone who's in a deeply afford— who's in an affordable housing unit, also shares those same.

3:12:23So I'm hearing that from people with lived experience.

3:12:26The number one, item number one, I read it as like it's really about the debt buydowns buying the space and the purchase on the balance sheet to do a range of things, to include rent, targeted rent reductions, support financial stability, preserve the thing, and enable like that headroom in cash flow.

3:12:44Is that how you're suggesting it?

3:12:47That's exactly the intent.

3:12:48And to the point that Councilor Avalos raised, that Chair Avalos raised, we tried to create significant flexibility with what could be done after those debt buydowns occurred with that increased headroom.

3:13:02The idea is how do we create that increased headroom, that cash flow, so that these things can be ongoing?

3:13:09Yeah, and that's great.

3:13:10I think that's why I'm able to support it.

3:13:13I appreciate that you need to carve off a second bucket to be explicit that there might be some one-time expenses that don't necessarily fall into debt buydown.

3:13:20I think my intention here is by doing this, I don't want to hear an excuse down the road that, well, we can't lower the rent or we can't do these upgrades that we need to do and we can't fix this unit because we can't afford to because of the debt overhang.

3:13:35We're stepping in, we're helping solve and heal that balance.

3:13:39And so let's work together on that.

3:13:41And I think our, our tenants will, um, will thank us for that.

3:13:44So thanks for bringing forward this amendment.

3:13:49Councilor Novick.

3:13:52Thank you, Madam Chair.

3:13:52Just wanted to ask the carrier, um, when you talk about, uh, support the financial stability and preservation of existing deeply affordable housing units, uh, does that— could that include some of the money goes to maintenance of those units?

3:14:07Because, uh, um, I think that part of the reason that some of those units are empty is that they're falling apart.

3:14:15We specifically talked to providers about whether this language would allow that increased headroom.

3:14:21So again, we're talking about increased headroom created by the debt buydown, making sure that that language would allow the increased headroom to go to things like turning over units that are currently not rentable because of damage or contamination from previous renters and making sure that those could be brought back into rental.

3:14:39So you're saying that the language Thank you.

3:14:47All right, seeing no further discussion, let's call the roll.

3:14:54Motion for EPG-1 as amended.

3:14:57Um, who did we have the movement seconded by?

3:14:59Apologies.

3:15:01It was moved by Councilor Pirtle-Guiney.

3:15:04Oh, Novick did.

3:15:05Yes, sorry.

3:15:11Thank you.

3:15:13Pirtle-Guiney?

3:15:16Aye.

3:15:17Aye.

3:15:18Aye.

3:15:19Green?

3:15:21Aye.

3:15:22Avalos?

3:15:23Aye.

3:15:23With 5 ayes, the amendment is approved.

3:15:27Councilor Pirtle-Guiney?

3:15:28Thank you, Chair.

3:15:29I would move Pirtle-Guiney 2 Pirtle-Guiney 2, and you should have in your email a new version of Pirtle-Guiney 2.

3:15:38I don't know if we need to rename this or not, but we've added one sentence to the end for clarification's sake.

3:15:44This creates a new bucket of funding for deeply affordable non-market housing support.

3:15:51And what I heard in the conversations that I had with providers, including 2 that we heard from today, was that there are units on the market that are very hard to support, very hard to replace, that, um, are generally very affordable, less than 30% AMI units.

3:16:14Some go up to 40 or 45%, but generally the most affordable units on the market that are there to support individuals who need permanent supports in their housing.

3:16:27We heard from Beth Cook with New Narrative that one of their units in this category provides this in-between level where you have constant supports on site, but in a non-medical or institutional setting.

3:16:43And none of the work that we had done elsewhere in this ordinance specifically supported the needs for preservation for these units.

3:16:54I wanted to call out the very real needs for preservation for these units who are facing significant budget shortfalls and have faced years of underinvestment, but where we know that we need these types of supports in order to fully address the housing crisis that we have before us.

3:17:13These aren't the units that support our families who have There's a huge need there, and we're doing other things in this ordinance to support that need.

3:17:22This is to support the individuals who are struggling to, to remain stable in housing that doesn't have supports on site.

3:17:32We know that that is another piece of the housing puzzle in our city, and I wanted to make sure that we were addressing some of those needs within this proposal as well.

3:17:41Thank you.

3:17:44Okay, uh, so that is moved.

3:17:47Yes, do I have a second?

3:17:55Okay, well, Councilor Novick, you're in the queue, but there's no second.

3:17:59Are you trying to—.

3:17:59I wanted to discuss.

3:18:00You got a second?