Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler promises more housing - soon - and pledges fairer justice system

Mayor Ted Wheeler pledges more affordable housing, inclusivity at his first State of the City speech.(Photo provided by Michelle Plambeck)

Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler promised to create 1,300 affordable housing units in Portland in the near term and pledged to return to a community policing model to better serve diverse communities at his State of the City Speech on Friday.

He also announced that Stephen Green, a business leader and mentor to fellow black entrepreneurs, will lead community oversight of the city's use of its $258 million affordable housing bond.

Wheeler said he will work with judges, prosecutors and law enforcement to reduce the racial bias he said permeates the local justice system.

Several hundred people gathered at The Sentinel Hotel Friday to hear the mayor's first State of the City address since he took office in January.

Wheeler touted the City Council's new tenant protection rule that requires landlords to pay relocation costs for renters whom they evict without cause or whose rents they increase by 10 percent or more.

He also praised city and county efforts to help Portland's homeless. The city and county Joint Office on Homeless Services' A Home for Everyone coalition moved more than 4,500 homeless people into housing, he said. He commended the private sector's contributions to increasing shelter capacity and lauded the effort to explore alternative shelter options such as tiny homes.

"We know that traditional shelter doesn't work for everyone," Wheeler said. "Increasing the number and kinds of shelter available for those experiencing homelessness is critical."

Addressing housing affordability

The mayor halted spending of proceeds from the voter-approved housing bond his second week in office. He said he wanted to create a framework for spending the significant new pot of money before deploying it.

Wheeler announced that Green, Portland manager for a San Francisco-based tech start-up and a former banker and economic development officer, will take the lead in providing community oversight for those efforts. In Portland, Green has been a bank executive, a tavern owner, economist and founder of Pitch Black, a forum designed to foster black business start-ups.

As he did on the campaign trail, Wheeler promised to create an Office of Landlord and Tenant affairs within the housing bureau that he manages. He said he will step up enforcement of fair housing laws and fair housing testing to ensure that landlords are not discriminating against minorities.

Wheeler pledged to create 1,300 affordable housing units in Portland in the coming months, a requirement of the affordable housing bond passed by voters in November. He said they will house 3,000 people. He said he will make almost half of those units affordable for those who earn less than 30 percent of Portland's median family income. Half of the units will fit families, he said.

"This effort represents an ambitious start to addressing housing affordability in Portland," Wheeler said. "It also provides us with an opportunity to build trust with our citizens in the area of fiscal responsibility. We are going to spend their dollars wisely in a way that makes a tangible impact in people's lives."

Developing Portland

Portland's future development will include greenways, housing and street-level businesses designed with sustainability in mind, Wheeler said. He pledged to develop a steering committee next month to help the Portland Development Commission create a plan for the U.S. Post Office site in Northwest Portland.

He flagged the Rose Quarter, The Zidell site on Portland's South Waterfront, the Centennial Mills property on the west bank of the Willamette River, land owned by the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry and urban renewal areas on Portland's eastside as areas ripe for development.

The mayor commended efforts to clean up the Willamette and pledged to reshape Portland's waterfront by pushing for open spaces.

"We will have an incredible opportunity to shape the look, feel and fundamental character of our city," Wheeler said. "Growth is coming - we can't stop that, but we get to decide how and where that growth happens, and what opportunities that it creates for us and future generations."

The mayor said he will use a new financing strategy without creating new taxes to close the $270 million funding gap for maintaining roads, parks and civic assets. He said he will use a municipal bond structure to invest in infrastructure.

"Make no mistake about it, the funding gap is enormous," Wheeler said.

The mayor said he will release a climate action plan next month that will strive to make Portland and Multnomah County's energy use 100 percent renewable by 2050.

Wheeler said he will work to make Portland, which Portlandia famously sent up as "the city where young people go to retire," more age-friendly, particularly for seniors, although he glossed over details after realizing he was short on time.

"Whatever we do, I am determined that it benefit everyone in the community, and that any housing that is created includes all levels of affordability," Wheeler said.

A more inclusive city

Wheeler acknowledged Portland's "dark and clouded history around race" and pledged to do better for Portland's diverse communities.

"This history must be brought to light," Wheeler said. "The true facts must be reaffirmed."

Before white men founded Portland, the native Upper Chinook lived on the city's land, he said. He described how Portland sought black workers during World War II, but didn't want black neighbors. Development drove black people out of the city to make room for freeways, stadiums and hospitals, Wheeler said.

"While I cannot do justice to the personal toll these events have taken, I can tell the history," Wheeler said. "As the mayor of Portland, I think it is important that I speak these truths."

Wheeler said unemployment is three times worse for Portland's black households and the city's black population is declining. He described a tense relationship between the black community and the police.

Police, he said, represent a portion of a "biased criminal justice system." He pledged to work with judges, the district attorney, county sheriff and police chief to reduce disparities in the criminal justice system.

"I am committed to increasing trust between police and the communities they serve," Wheeler said. "I am dedicated to returning to a full community policing model to get more officers out of their patrol cars and onto walking beats."

Wheeler outlined a vision for a "new west" that involves partnering with Oregon, Washington and California to execute progressive initiatives. Portland should take the lead on furthering the progress on health care, education, the environment, reproductive rights, LGBT issues and racial equity, he said.

Short on time, Wheeler ended his speech by commending the work of his fellow commissioners.

Had he been able to complete the full speech as written, he would have closed with a vision of Portland's future: "By coming together, embracing our shared values and acting on them, we can ensure that Portland's character will endure for generations to come."

--Jessica Floum

503-221-8306

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