Every vote by the Portland city council to confirm a citizen appointment to the board of the Housing Authority of Portland is a public affirmation of public housing policy in Multnomah county.

The time to vote for HAP nominees based only on their presumed interest or background in public service is past. The job of HAP commissioner is to make public housing policy which guides the spending of $90,000,000 in public funds every year. No vote should be cast by any Portland city commissioner without knowing the nominee's positions on a range of public housing policy issues.

The mayor of Portland, who is singularly empowered to nominate (and dismiss) candidates to the HAP board, is obliged to vet HAP candidates on their public housing policy positions before making his nomination and then announcing to the city council and the public his findings well before the vote. Thus far the current lame duck mayor has failed to carry out his responsibility in these and all previous HAP nomination proceedings. No doubt this indefensible procedural failure will be corrected during the next administration.

Six fundamental public housing policy positions were presented to HAP nominee Mike Bennett for his consideration. Those policy positions are below. Opposing all six of the public housing positions presented below does NOT serve the interests of the citizens of Portland, Gresham and Multnomah county. Mike Bennett has indicated to me that he OPPOSES all six of the public housing positions presented below. The Portland city council MUST consider Mike Bennett's public housing policy positions before casting their votes.

1. The most important player in the game is Sam Adams. Sam has repeatedly called for accountability and transparency from the Housing Authority of Portland. He has twice, as a sitting city commissioner, asked HAP for authentic, accurate, complete and timely public housing statistical data and been rebuffed. Adams voted against the last nominee from Gresham, Nathan Teske, because Teske refused to say that he would provide Sam and everyone else in Multnomah county with HAP's public housing statistical data.

As an elected Portland city commissioner who has been insulted twice by appointed HAP officials and now a candidate for mayor, Sam Adams must more forcefully continue to hold HAP commissioners and HAP nominees accountable for their public housing policy positions. Sam Adams has demonstrated that he does NOT support a public policy of unlimited neighborhood concentration of public housing at HAP, PDC, BHCD or anywhere else. Therefore, Sam MUST vote against any HAP, PDC and HCDC nominee that supports a public policy of unlimited neighborhood concentration of public housing. In addition, he must signal to HAP commissioners, that if elected mayor he will not tolerate any HAP commissioner that supports a public policy of unlimited neighborhood concentration of public housing and he will demand that authentic, accurate, complete and timely public housing statistical data be made available to the public on a regular basis.

2. Mayoral candidate Sho Dozono knows as much about public housing policy as former mayoral candidate Tom Potter did when he ran. That would be somewhere between zero and nothing. If Sho Dozono does not have the courage to publicly face his would be colleagues on the Portland city council and the public and tell us how he would vote on the Bennett nomination then Sam Adams, who must vote, will have little trouble accurately labeling Dozono as lacking the knowledge and courage required for the job of mayor.

3. On 11-3-03 Oregonian columnist Renee Mitchell wrote:
Fish says he agrees with Ellmyer's philosophical point. But he would like to see all the housing-related agencies -- including the Portland Development Commission -- contribute their information to a neighborhood-based map, too. "As a matter of policy," Fish says, "I think it makes perfect sense." 

The problem with this statement is that at no time when Fish was on the HAP board - as he was during this 2003 interview - nor any time during his previous campaigns for public office nor since, has he taken any public action to support this position.

Nick Fish has an opportunity here to redeem himself. However, if Nick Fish does not testify on this HAP nomination and tell the voters where he stands with regard to public housing policy then he loses whatever small portion of credibility he had on this issue.

4. Jim Middaugh was Erik Sten's chief of staff. If Middaugh wants to be taken seriously as a candidate with his own views on public housing policy and not merely a puppet and parrot for his former boss then he needs to testify on the Bennett nomination and tell us who he is and what he stands for.

5. Mike Fahey, John Branam, Jeff Bissonnette, Chris Smith, Charles Lewis and Amanda Fritz have all told me they oppose unlimited neighborhood concentration of pubic housing. Fahey, Branam, Bissonnette and Smith have already asked HAP for authentic, accurate, complete and timely public housing statistical data. Requests that continue to be unfulfilled. Fahey, Branam and Bissonnette publicly acknowledge their support for a public housing policy of equitable distribution. Like Sam Adams, their positions would require them to speak out and vote against any HAP, PDC and HCDC nominee that supported unlimited neighborhood concentration of public housing. Despite their admirable and correct public housing policy positions, no shows here should translate into no vote.

Any candidate for Portland city council/mayor that does not testify and avoids this important opportunity to express their opinions on public housing policy in a significant venue out of fear of exposing their ignorance or lack of interest in the subject will certainly be noted negatively by voters and the press.

On March 19, 2008 at 10:30 AM at Portland city hall you, dear reader, can and should testify for or against Mike Bennett and the public housing policy beliefs he will bring with him if confirmed to the HAP board. His voice and vote in policy and payments of the annual $90,000,000 in public funds can and will affect every property owner, business owner and citizen of Multnomah county. There is no better time to speak out on your views of public housing policy in Multnomah county than at a HAP confirmation vote.


Richard Ellmyer
Community activist leading the campaign to stop all potentially new public housing (means test + government subsidy + rental agreement) in the Portsmouth neighborhood, especially the following:
1. Hacienda CDC public housing project on N. Newell Street
2. The recently decommissioned Sharff Army Reserve Center (Adams, Leonard, Saltzman publicly support ONG option)
3. The former John Ball School site
4. The recently closed Clarendon School site
Standards for Equitable Distribution of Public Housing Resolution author and project champion
Writer/Publisher - HAP Watchers commentary - Published on the Internet (http://www.goodgrowthnw.org) and distributed to thousands of readers interested in public housing policy in Multnomah County. To Subscribe: HAP-Watchers-on@goodgrowthnw.org
President, MacSolutions Inc. - A Macintosh computer consulting business providing web hosting for artists and very small businesses. Located in Portsmouth, the neighborhood with the second highest concentration of public housing clients, 30% and rising, within HAP's Multnomah county jurisdiction of 117 neighborhoods.

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1. The term Public Housing is defined as any government administered housing program that requires all three of the following conditions, means test + government subsidy + rental agreement. I promise to do everything in my power to assure that all documents generated by the Housing Authority of Portland will use the term Public Housing where those conditions are met.

2. The citizens of Multnomah county have a right to public housing statistical data from all public entities that administer public housing programs. As a candidate for Gresham HAP nominee I will submit evidence that I have asked the current HAP board for the following public housing statistical data. If confirmed I pledge to make every effort to ensure that this data is available on the HAP website and updated monthly.

Dear HAP Board: [board@hapdx.org]
As a candidate for Gresham HAP Nominee it is essential for me to demonstrate my commitment to upholding a citizen's right to HAP's public housing statistical data. In order to do that I request the following public housing statistical data:

Report #1. HAP Public Housing Program
A tab delimited text file with the following fields: 1. Age 2. Gender 3. Income 4. Neighborhood 5. Last Modification Date, for ALL clients in this database.

Report #2. HAP Section 8 Housing Voucher Program
A tab delimited text file with the following fields: 1. Age 2. Gender 3. Income 4. Neighborhood 5. Last Modification Date, for ALL clients in this database.

Report #3. New Columbia in North Portland's Portsmouth Neighborhood Program
A tab delimited text file with the following fields: 1. Age 2. Gender 3. Income 4. Neighborhood 5. Last Modification Date, for ALL HAP public housing clients (means test + government subsidy + rental agreement) living in New Columbia as of January 1, 2008. 

Report #4. HAP Affordable Housing Program
A tab delimited text file, including the total number of public housing (means test + government subsidy + rental agreement) HAP clients living in all of HAP's 32 properties in Multnomah county as of January 1, 2008, with the following fields: 1. Age 2. Gender 3. Income 4. Neighborhood 5. Last Modification Date.

Thank you for expediting this process.

Sincerely,
Candidate For Gresham HAP Nominee

3. I renounce the discredited and abhorrent public policy of unlimited neighborhood concentration of public housing.

4. I support a public policy of equitable distribution of public housing.

As a consequence of this general housing policy position:
A. I support the details and the ideas expressed in the ICURAAC letter to PDC below which sets a cap of 15% neighborhood public housing concentration on new PDC funding for public housing projects. This would include opposition to any HAP involvement in the Hacienda CDC project on N. Newell street in the Portsmouth neighborhood as well as opposition to the addition of any new public housing by the Portland Hope Meadows Corporation on the surplus city property known as the former John Ball School site.

November 7, 2007

Dear Portland Development Commission:
We, the Interstate Corridor Urban Renewal Area Advisory Committee, support a public housing location policy of equitable distribution of public housing (defined as requiring three components: means test + government subsidy + rental agreement). This is consistent with the public housing location policy of the Portland Bureau of Housing and Community Development's published public housing location policy which is:
1. Maximize housing choice, especially for low-income people who have traditionally been limited in the location of housing that they could afford; 
2. Discourage the concentration of low- or no- income households in any one area of the city; 
3. Encourage the creation of additional housing resources for low-income households integrated throughout the community.

Much of the work of the citizen volunteers on the ICURAAC involves advising the PDC on how to spend public funds on public housing. Acknowledging equitable distribution of public housing as a policy gives us the foundation upon which we can make reasonable, justifiable and defensible decisions.

As an operational imperative of a public housing location policy of equitable distribution of public housing, we have set 15% as a cap on the percentage of public housing clients in any of the 10 neighborhoods included in the Interstate Corridor Urban Renewal Area which would allow future PDC funding for public housing projects. The Portsmouth neighborhood, which has more than 30% public housing clients, is indisputably in this category. As a result, we, the Interstate Corridor Urban Renewal Area Advisory Committee, exercise our advisory responsibility by advising you, the Portland Development Commission, to stop all future funding for pubic housing projects in the Portsmouth neighborhood and redirect those funds to other Interstate Corridor Urban Renewal Area neighborhoods with a population of less than 15% public housing clients.

Thank you for your support of this recommendation by the Interstate Corridor Urban Renewal Area Advisory Committee.

Sincerely,
Interstate Corridor Urban Renewal Area Advisory Committee


B. I support the Standards of Equitable Distribution of Public Housing Resolution below and will endeavor to promote appropriately reworded versions of it to HAP and all the other public entities that administer public housing in Multnomah county.

Declare 5-10-15 Neighborhood Percentages As Transparent, Understandable and Accountable Distributive Public Housing Policy Goals - Provide Compensation To Neighborhoods Above 15%
WHEREAS the city of Portland has an established policy that public housing clients should not be concentrated into a few select neighborhoods but rather distributed throughout Portland’s neighborhoods,
WHEREAS it has become necessary to quantify the policy of distribution of public housing clients in order to assure that public expenditures are being spent in furtherance of these objectives,

WHEREAS it is necessary to adopt neighborhood map based accounting as a reporting and decision making tool regarding public housing policy and expenditures.

WHEREAS it is necessary to compensate neighborhoods that shoulder greater social responsibility than other neighborhoods by including more than 15% public housing clients.
WHEREAS for purposes of this resolution public housing shall be defined as requiring means test + government subsidy + rental agreement.

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, the city of Portland shall establish as its primary public housing client goal in each Portland neighborhood a target of ten (10) percent of that neighborhood’s population. Goals for minimum and maximum shall be established so that no neighborhood shall have fewer than five (5) percent and no neighborhood shall have more than fifteen (15) percent of its population as public housing clients.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, the office of the Portland City Auditor shall coordinate the collection of data and report annually on the status of accomplishment toward the 5-10-15 goal.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, the city council shall fund the City Auditor’s 5-10-15 related activities by whatever combination of funding sources from HAP, PDC, BHCD or other revenue sources it may chose.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, all appointments for PDC, HAP and HCDC commissioner shall be made during the regular city council calendar.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, the mayor shall determine that all nominees to become HAP, PDC and HCDC commissioners agree to support the 5-10-15 policy goal before being formally nominated for council approval.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, during the confirmation proceedings the mayor shall publicly instruct the appointee of his or her obligation to use the office to which they are appointed to further the 5-10-15 policy goal.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, neighborhoods with more than 15% public housing clients shall be considered “overloaded” and subject to compensation according to the following schedule:
$1,000/client/year from 15%-16%
$1,100/client/year from 16%-17%
$1,200/client/year from 17%-18%
Increasing $100/client/year for every additional percentage point.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, payments for compensating 15%+ “overloaded” neighborhoods shall be made annually to the affected neighborhood associations. Compensation funding may only be used for Arts related activities e.g. purchases of artwork, performances, classes etc. Compensation funding may not be used for any social services activity or purpose.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, the Office of Neighborhood Involvement shall annually issue a Neighborhood Art Card to every address in those neighborhoods which qualify for “overload” compensation. The card will allow four persons to participate in any activities sponsored by the neighborhood named on the card. The card shall contain the neighborhood budget for the year of issuance and an explanation of why it has been issued.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, this resolution is binding city policy.

5. I support legislation that will transfer the power to approve HAP nominees from the Portland city council to the Multnomah county commission.

6. I support legislation that will transfer the power of the mayor of Portland to dismiss appointed HAP board members (ORS 456.110) to the Multnomah county chair.
The Housing Authority of Portland has operational status throughout all of Multnomah county. It is politically indefensible to allow Portland's mayor and its city council, who are unconnected to citizens outside Portland, to have power for which they cannot be held directly accountable by voters affected by their decisions. This political circumstance is an un-American, unacceptable variant on the theme of taxation without representation.