FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Martha Calhoon, Portland Housing Bureau
503-823-1132, Martha.Calhoon@portlandoregon.gov

PORTLAND, OR (February 20, 2019) — The Portland Housing Bureau (PHB) has announced plans to bring more affordable family housing and Supportive Housing to East Portland. PHB made $7 million in federal funds available last Summer for proposals to develop at least 60 new units of affordable housing with a focus on family-size units that provide two bedrooms or more. 

Two East Portland projects have been selected for funding, the Bureau announced today, totaling 126 new affordable units — more than double the number anticipated in the solicitation. Of the new units, 81 will have two or more bedrooms to accommodate families with children, and the projects will provide 18 new units of Supportive Housing. 

“These projects respond to the urgent need of families in our community for safe, stable housing they can afford,” said Portland Housing Bureau Director Shannon Callahan. “I’m very happy to be adding these community assets to East Portland – ensuring high-quality, stable homes for the kids who live and go to school there.”  

Northwest Housing Alternatives has been selected to develop Powellhurst Place, a new project on SE 122nd Avenue and Harold Street that will consist of 65 one- and two-bedroom apartments, including five units of Supportive Housing. 

Innovative Housing Inc. has been awarded funding to add 61 new apartments — from studios to three-bedrooms — to the Garden Park complex on SE 136th Avenue and Powell Blvd. Most of Garden Park’s 63 existing units will also be rehabilitated or completely replaced in the process. Thirteen of the completed units will be designated as Supportive Housing.

“We are thrilled to have the City’s support for our redevelopment of the Garden Park Apartments,” said Innovative Housing’s Executive Director, Sarah Stevenson. “This project will upgrade and nearly double the number of affordable homes that Garden Park can provide for families and individuals struggling to make ends meet.”

Garden Park joins four other affordable housing developments completed or in progress under the City's Powell-Division Transit Project, which commits to developing 300-600 units of affordable housing in tandem with new transit infrastucture along the Powell-Division Corridor. Altogether, there are 387 affordable housing units currently in progress in the Powell-Division Corridor, more than 100 of which are located in East Portland. 

The new Supportive Housing achieved through the two projects will also further a shared City and Multnomah County goal of adding 2,000 units of Supportive Housing across the community over the next 10 years. Since the goal was adopted in 2017, more than 500 Supportive Housing units have already opened or are in development. 

“Supportive Housing is a compassionate, effective, and proven approach to addressing homelessness because it enables people to get the deeply affordable housing they need, with support services attached,” said Mayor Ted Wheeler. “I applaud our partners to rising to the challenge of adding to this vital infrastructure by integrating this housing option into the vision for how these projects can best serve our neighbors and our community.”