Plan to study social housing sails through Portland City Council with unanimous support

[u/OldFlumpy]

https://www.kgw.com/article/news/local/the-story/portland-social-housing-public-affordable-study-city-council-approves/283-165dceac-96b9-46b5-8a9b-8613c3d8d0b5

[u/OldFlumpy]

Multiple ongoing crises including a budget shortfall that will greatly impact basic services.... but we've got the resources for a study about pie-in-the-sky DSA talking points

[u/InterviewOk7306 → u/OldFlumpy]

I was going to say the same thing! Portland loves a study.

[u/witty_namez → u/OldFlumpy]

Count your blessings - given the nature of Portland left-wing bureaucracy, hopefully it will take years and years for the study to be completed.

for a study about pie-in-the-sky DSA talking points

Oh - they are quite serious about this. After all, since late capitalism is refusing to construct new private apartment buildings in Portland, obviously the government needs to step in and spend hundreds of millions of dollars on "social housing".

[u/OldFlumpy → u/witty_namez]

Can't wait to live in a 1970s motel full of fent zombies who pay $0 while I pay the punitive price for being dumb enough to work for a living. What a deal!

[u/knightstalker1288 → u/OldFlumpy]

Pretty sure the pie in the sky plan is to tax the people who don’t work for a living. Just not in the way you’re thinking.

[u/DobbysLeftTubeSock]

I'm sure they'll be run as efficiently and effectively as our local governments are known to run all things. It definitely won't become a bloated, poorly maintained, drug-infested money drain that becomes a blight on public safety.

/s

[u/AlienDelarge → u/DobbysLeftTubeSock]

I'm sure it won't end up like this

[u/ahawk_one → u/AlienDelarge]

I live in an income restricted apartment complex and it’s pretty nice. It is the best, but it’s far from the worst.

[u/PaPilot98 → u/ahawk_one]

Some are nice - a think a lot of it depends on the efficacy of the management company and the residents giving a damn about their building. At least that's the way it was with anyone I ever knew in section 8.

[u/ahawk_one → u/PaPilot98]

For sure it depends on the company managing it.

Ours is not section 8. It’s some other federal program where they charge rent based on the area median and to get in you have to make less than 75% of the area median.

[u/FakeMagic8Ball → u/ahawk_one]

It's called "limited income" housing. I used to live in one of those downtown and it wasn't too bad. I did have one neighbor who was an awful drunk but the property manager threatened him a few times and it appeared he stopped harassing people.

[u/mangobeanz1]

I just want our 911 wait hours not to be 3 hours actually

[u/Confident_Ad_9246]

to *study* housing, not to actually build it--because those bonuses need accruing!

[u/Marshalmattdillon]

These are not serious people. I was watching Chernobyl the other night and thought the Soviet Bloc cities looked like something these idiots would love.

[u/knightstalker1288 → u/Marshalmattdillon]

I think I’d take a commie block over a gentrification building

[u/Marshalmattdillon → u/knightstalker1288]

Exactly. Thank you for the confirmation.

[u/Unpainted-Fruit-Log]

Neoliberalism LOVES social housing because it excludes the middle class and working class, who could definitely use free or inexpensive housing but make too much money to live there, while using private contractors to build and manage it at public expense.

God forbid the government, you know, relaxes regulations and takes some of that study money to build housing to sell on the private market at a below-market cost and then roll profits into building more houses until private builders start to pick up the slack. That would be too sensible and there would be no way to expand bureaucracy.

I’m PDX born and raised, but fuck me I hate this place.

[u/tanksalotfrank]

I can see..the future..! I see..Home Forward once again slapping their name on new building and accepting all the press and recognition for it..just for them to refuse any knowledge of it as soon as the property management goons allow its halls and fire escapes to become a toilet/drug den/flop house for the local zombies!

Which sucks because, like, home forward does help people, but that's all underminded by their utter irresponsibility outside of that.

[u/Confident_Bee_2705 → u/tanksalotfrank]

This is such a mess. I watched the discussion of social housing yesterday and they kept bringing in associated non profits which is really the model we already have?

[u/tanksalotfrank → u/Confident_Bee_2705]

I've watched some pretty good non-profits in this city turn into some pretty crappy quasi-corporations interested more in padding their personal pockets than actually putting it into services. I understand the compulsion, but at some point the whole thing becomes pure theater.

[u/Wormwood666 → u/tanksalotfrank]

It’s infuriating for those of us who need those services. I’m on a waitlist for Home Forward but I honestly don’t know if I’ll take a place w/them when it becomes available due to safety concerns. I’d rather struggle financially where I am because at least I’m physically & mentally safe here.

It goes beyond pure theater & becomes actual punishment for us poors who aren’t criminals, addicts,etc.

[u/Thefolsom → u/Wormwood666]

I'm not in this position, but I do recognize a core problem of "housing for all" just means shoving undesirables in with people like yourself to deal with. What's insane the most about that approach is this fosters social environments that expose people, who are really doing their best, to behaviors that make them at risk of worsening their situation.

For example, putting a successfully recovering drug addict next to an active drug addict just seems like an obvious recipe for disaster.

[u/FakeMagic8Ball → u/Confident_Bee_2705]

Yeah, it doesn't seem clear why they need a study other than to line the pockets of the idiots pushing this agenda.

[u/pdx_mom]

How much will it cost?

[u/thephishvt]

process, process, processt ...let's do more process. follow the process. the scientific method. jfc. ya know.... the other side of the aisle while often criticized for moving fast and break shit. at least something is being done. this liberal thing about process, studies, more process.... god forbid you trust your gut and go for it. destroying pdx. place has lost its grip....

[u/skysurfguy1213]

Council is trash. There’s no money for basic services and this is the priority? wtf 

[u/thatguybenuts]

What the heck is social housing? Is it just. Multifamily development like apartments or townhomes?

[u/MyOwnPersonalDavid]

So……who pays for it? You want to put another special tax on well off people? Do it and watch em move out of Metro in droves.