Despite the fact that the job of an appointed commissioner to the Housing Authority of Portland is to discuss, debate and develop public housing policy, in the last seven years that I have been closely following the Housing Authority of Portland not a single nominee for the HAP board has ever been asked publicly to state his or her opinions on public housing policy, before, during or after the nominating process. This is a seriously flawed process and must be changed. That change will start with consideration of the next HAP nominee whose role is to serve the interests of the city of Gresham, Mike Bennett.

I urge all of you to use this rare opportunity to support or oppose the Bennett nomination and the six public housing policy options he has been challenged to acknowledge (See Below). Mike Bennett may soon be given the keys to a vault filled with $90,000,000 of public funds every year. If confirmed we will have to deal with how Mike Bennett chooses to spend our public money.

The Gresham city council's recommendation of colleague Mike Bennett to be nominated by Portland mayor Tom Potter to serve the interests of the city of Gresham on the HAP board is intriguing, attention getting and bold. Bennett's willingness to put his political career under such scrutiny and on the line is nothing short of amazing. You will no doubt remember that Portland city commissioner Sam Adams voted against Gresham's last HAP nominee, Nathan Teske, because Teske refused to acknowledge that Sam Adams or any member of the Gresham city council or any voter in Gresham or Multnomah county had a right to access HAP's public housing statistical data.

It is impossible for me, and many others, to imagine that Mike Bennett and those on the Gresham city council who voted to recommend him do not support the Gresham city council's right to authentic, accurate, complete and timely public housing statistical data from the Housing Authority of Portland. Which begs the following two questions:

1. Are there any of the six public housing policy positions (see below) that are not held by all members of the Gresham city council?

2. If Mike Bennet and the Greaham city council hold the view that serving the interests of the city of Gresham on the HAP board demands a commitment to support the Gresham city council's right to authentic, accurate, complete and timely public housing statistical data then when will a request to dismiss Nathan Teske from the Gresham HAP slot be made to Portland's mayor, Tom Potter, who has the power to dismiss HAP appointees at will (ORS 456.110)?

The imminent nomination by mayor Potter and confirmation by the Portland city council of Mike Bennett to the HAP board, followed by the Multnomah county commission search for a potential nominee to their empty slot on the HAP board and the entrance of former HAP board member Nick Fish into a Portland city council race puts the issue of access to HAP's public housing statistical data front and center. I have urged all of the candidates for Portland city council to testify at Bennett's confirmation vote. This unprecedented recommendation by the Gresham city council of an elected council member also demands that each and every member of the Gresham city council step forward and testify in support of their fellow council member before the public jurisdiction council that has the power to determine the fate of their recommendation.

My readers and the candidates for Portland city council are all very interested in how Mike Bennett and each member of the Gresham city council will answer the six public housing policy positions (see below). As soon as I find out I will publish and share their views with my HAP Watcher's audience.

All members of the Gresham city council as well as candidates for Portland city council without the courage to stand up and testify on this matter will not go unnoticed.

There is a vacancy on the HAP board to be filled by a person nominated by the Multnomah county commission who will serve the interests of Multnomah county. As a reader of HAP Watchers you already have an interest in public housing policy. If you would like to give serious expression to that interest then I encourage you to consider applying for the volunteer job of HAP commissioner. Ordinarily, citizens that are not part of the "in" and "connected" crowd are not "invited' to participate. That bad habit ends now. Below are six public housing policy positions that I have advocated for years. If you also hold these opinions and would like to serve the interests of Multnomah county on the HAP board then let me know and I will make sure that your name is submitted and considered. I will make it my business to compare our shared public housing policy positions with all other candidates for the nomination.

The threshold public housing policy positions that you MUST support as being in the interests of Multnomah county to have my endorsement are the same as those presented to Mike Bennett (see below).

Okay. Are you ready to get in the game? Terrific. Send me an email, hwcomments@goodgrowthnw.org , confirming your support for the 6 policy statements below along with a short resume of your work and volunteer history, public and/or private. Don't be shy. The more the merrier.

And for those of you who support the 6 policy statements below but aren't interested in being on the HAP board there is still an opportunity for you to participate. Here's how. It is my intention to do the following:
1. Recruit candidates via my HAP Watcher's readership.
2. Vet ALL candidates by asking them to answer certain public housing policy questions BEFORE the nomination.
3. Publish the public housing policy positions of prospective nominees.
4. Persuade all candidates for Multnomah county commissioner to publicly identify nominees they find acceptable.
5. Persuade all candidates for Multnomah county commissioner to publicly testify on the selected nominee BEFORE the vote at the Multnomah county commission AND BEFORE the vote at the Portland city council.

Now, here's where you come in. You can do either or both of the following:
1. Contact the candidates for Multnomah county commissioner in your district and your current district commissioner and tell them your views on the prospective HAP nominees.
2. Testify along with me and others to support or oppose the nominee chosen by the Multnomah county chair. It will be fun. Really.

If you've been waiting for an opportunity to have your say about public housing policy and how HAP is run then now is the time. I will help you. Let's do this together. We can make a difference.

Let the sun shine in.


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
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.

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.