December Newsletter: A Landmark Year for Portland's Housing Bond

Dear Fellow Portlanders,

What a year we’ve had! 2022 has been a landmark year for Portland’s Housing Bond, with five projects opening their doors, and one breaking ground. I have been particularly heartened to see the emphasis on family-focused housing at these new buildings—including family-sized units and on-site enrichment programs for children and youth—as well as Permanent Supportive Housing, complete with wraparound services for our neighbors exiting chronic homelessness. Not only do these projects further our housing goals as a city, they also align with the community’s priorities for these investments.

Most recently, I was grateful to celebrate the grand openings of the Starlight and Hayu Tilixam, two critical projects that take different approaches to meeting the diverse housing needs of Portlanders. Projects like the Starlight, which provides 100 units of deeply affordable homes for individuals exiting homelessness in Old Town, fill a vital role in our streets-to-housing continuum and our commitment to ending chronic homelessness in our city. The 70 units of Permanent Supportive Housing at the Starlight further our commitment to this community to create 2,000 new units of PSH for our neighbors experiencing chronic homelessness by 2028. With this opening, we are now already achieving 96% of our goal.

Hayu Tilixam approaches our housing crisis from a different angle: while it includes 9 PSH units, it brings a particular focus to serving BIPOC and American Indian/Alaska Native families, with 20 of its 50 units sized for families, and culturally-specific services. Hayu Tilixam will become a community anchor in Cully, one of our city’s most diverse neighborhoods.

As of this writing, the year’s fifth Bond-supported project has just opened its doors: Las Adelitas brings another family-focused community to Cully, with 141 affordable units. I’m looking forward to celebrating that grand opening in the new year. All in all, 539 Bond-supported affordable homes opened in 2022, able to house over 1,200 Portlanders. Four more Bond- projects are preparing to open in 2023. And it’s all thanks to you, the voters and taxpayers who make this amazing progress possible. I know if we can continue to work together, we will solve our housing crisis.

Sincerely,