Oregon’s housing history and our mission at Habitat
On a chilly, gray morning, around 30 Habitat staff boarded a charter bus. It would carry them on a journey to understanding the history that underlies the housing challenges we address today. The Fair Housing Council of Oregon (FHCO) offers the tour as part of their educational outreach. It shines a light on policies of […]
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Oregon’s past may hold the key for future homeowners
In 2023, Washington State authorized a landmark study into its role in housing discrimination and the racial gap in homeownership that persists today. Released in March 2024, Washington’s historic Covenant Homeownership Study laid the groundwork for a new program that specifically targets the victims of its actions to foster homeownership. It’s time Oregon took a […]
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State of the State’s Housing report calls for urgent action to address the growing crisis
Oregon’s lack of affordable housing isn’t new, but the degree to which it is increasingly unaffordable to live in this state demands urgent action from all stakeholders. That’s the findings of Oregon’s first State of the State’s Housing report, released this month by Oregon Housing and Community Services, the state’s housing finance agency. The report […]
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Lasting affordability and community land trusts
Portland recently passed its first Housing Production Strategy, with a goal to create more than 120,000 units by 2045 to meet the projected housing demand. It wants 53% of them to be affordable to lower income households. Doing that means a comprehensive plan with creative approaches to building affordable homes, not just for today, but […]
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In memory of the starter home
Starter homes – modest in size and price – used to be a gateway for first-time homebuyers to begin building equity and a lifetime of stable homeownership. That gateway, however, has significantly narrowed, as the housing shortage has placed a premium on smaller homes that used to fit the budget of a first-time, entry-level buyer. […]
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The state of housing in the midst of a crisis
Homeownership’s connection to economic stability, improved educational outcomes and better health is well documented. But amid an unprecedented housing crisis, homeownership — and the potential it brings — is financially no longer an option for a growing number of people. The crisis has been decades in the making, a combination of low supply and excessive […]
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Martin Luther King Jr. and the fight for housing justice
In the final years of his life, Martin Luther King Jr’s legacy was already cemented with his leadership in the Civil Rights Movement, the passage of the landmark Civil Rights Act of 1964, and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. But one key element in civil rights was still missing in his view: housing justice. […]
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A Decade Later: Portland’s N/NE Preference Policy sees progress, challenges ahead
North and Northeast Portland — the heart of Portland’s Black community for over 60 years — lost two-thirds of its Black residents due to urban renewal and gentrification. Galvanized by a proposed below-market sale of a city-owned lot to a national retail chain, community leaders pushed to prioritize affordable housing to allow Black households to […]
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Oregon’s new racial, implicit bias education intended to curb disparities in home valuations
Creative Commons Home appraisers seeking certification in Oregon will now receive training on implicit and racial bias, a move state lawmakers and housing advocates hope will help curb racial disparities in home appraisals. The new requirement, passed by the Oregon Legislature this session, is intended to address the tide of research showing considerable gaps between […]
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Staring Down the Homeownership Gap
Just steps beyond Jackie Jones’ front window are the homes she always longed for. A place of her own, that she could take care of properly, in the Northeast Portland neighborhood she was raised in. She can see them from her rental home’s window, but they might as well be a hundred miles away. It’s […]
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