Corinne Patel (running for Commissioner position 1)
Should policies be adopted to ensure every neighborhood in Portland welcomes more neighbors, through smaller, denser, lower-cost housing options like smallplexes, cottage clusters, and small-to-moderate-sized apartment complexes, via both the nonprofit and private markets?
Certain locations with the advance collaboration with the neighborhood surrounding. Not every neighborhood can support cluster housing. Affluence should not be a factor in deciding location but the abilities of the neighborhood and proximity to needed services should be important.
Should Portland expand transit-oriented development (allowing apartment complexes by-right within a short walk of all major transit lines) as a way to discourage the use of single-occupancy vehicles and reduce our city’s carbon emissions?
Yes. When neighborhoods have vibrant transit centers it increases access and encourages non single occupant options. The simpler the transit to needs, the more likely transit will be used.
Should neighborhood associations have less, as much, or more power than other community organizations when it comes to questions of housing, such as whether new apartments or homeless shelters are permitted in a given neighborhood?
The same amount of power. All members of a community should have the same power to add their ideas to the table, collaborate, and reach mutual decisions.
Should Portland dedicate less, as much, or more money to regulated affordable housing? (If you answered "more money," what funding mechanism(s) would you pursue to build this additional housing?)
As much money. Very possibly more funds are needed but I would need to be able to deep dive in the budget. I excel at finding new income sources and making each dollar produce more. I believe it’s possible to find more funding and make it go farther. But it’s not about what I want to see. It’s about what the voters need for a better quality of life.
Would you support a citywide moratorium on evictions during the three coldest months of the year, as Seattle recently adopted?
Yes. Too many people die on the streets. This is some of the hardest times to find new lodging as well as some of the tightest months for lower income households. I’ve lived next to this line in Portland. I also believe that the hottest month of the summer should also be included here. Freezing or hot conditions when folks are pushed into vehicles for lack of housing further compounds the dangers.
As Portland implements an anti-displacement plan, which policies from the Anti-Displacement PDX Coalition would you support? What additional anti-displacement policies do you support?
Require advance 90-day written notice to a tenant if the owner plans to sell, demolish, or redevelop their home.
Grant a “right to stay” to existing tenants; require landlords to rehouse tenants they displace in their neighborhoods at a rent comparable to what they had been paying, or by helping the tenants to purchase a unit with down-payment assistance.
Implement a Tenant Opportunity to Purchase policy that gives all current renters, and then the city, the first and second rights of refusal to purchase a property at fair-market value before it goes on the market.
Earmark Construction Excise Tax (CET) revenue from construction in single-dwelling zones as a source of subsidy for affordable units in single-dwelling zones.
Charge a fee for any redevelopment of a property in single-dwelling zones that does not include at least two units, unless prevented by site constraints and use the new revenue from this fee to subsidize regulated affordable units in the single-dwelling zones.
I would like to see a ‘rent to own’ option. Mortgages often prevent this form of ‘subletting’. I believe there is a middle ground here to help tenants purchase. Especially Independant contractors who are ineligible for conventional financing. I e been trying to buy the home I live in as an Independant contractor for almost 5 years. The owner has been trying to sell it to me for the same time. We were almost there but now everything in the market is frozen for the time being. Any of these options could have saved me 10s of thousands. Imagine what it could save others.
What else should Portland pro-housing, pro-tenant community know about you & your candidacy?
I’m an artist that thinks differently. I believe if individuals donated the hundreds of thousands of dollars spent on campaigning back to the community, we could change everything.
Patel received a D overall from our scoring committee. See all scores and read about our process here.