How Do You Quantify Portland's Affordable Housing Challenge?

An article in this month's Southeast Examiner articulates well many of the issues behind Portland's Affordable Housing Challenge. Although a solution doesn't yet seem apparent, it's important to understand the depth of the problem before finding a way to move ahead with affordable housing solutions.

Multifamily NW has several ideas about ways to reach a solution to the problem, as do local economists. We'll be exploring those ideas more fully in the months ahead on HFO-TV and here on our blog.

For now, the Southeast Examiner article makes many important points, including these:

• "Portland needs 31,665 affordable units for those in the 0-30 percent range of median family income, but there are only 8,370 units, leaving a lack of 23,295 units. In the 51- 80 percent range of median family income, there is an excess of 23,565 units over the need. For a family of four, 30 percent of the median family income would be less than $24,250.
• "When the Section 8 voucher ten day application period opened in 2013, there were 21,000 applicants within two weeks for 3,000 chances to be chosen. Due to the Federal budget sequestration, all of these people were denied a voucher."

Read the full article.