RALLY to build an Inner Eastside for All our neighbors

On April 15, Portland City Council will consider a resolution focused on keeping the Inner Eastside Area Planning project moving forward. This is the resolution that passed out of the Climate, Resilience, and Land Use Committee on March 12th (unanimously!) with huge support from our membership and coalition in the form of written testimony.

We’re holding a rally at City Hall to show the City that Portlanders are ready for more action on housing equity and we’d love for you to be there! Mark your calendar starting at 5pm on April 15th! We’ll hold the rally from 5pm-5:45pm and then go into Council Chambers to watch invited testimony from P:NW and other members of our coalition.

We’re asking everyone to wear 🟢 green 🟢 to visibly highlight the broad-based support for housing in Portland. We’re not asking for more spoken testimony because we believe that momentum for this resolution is on our side and a smaller amount of focused testimony will be the most powerful.

And if you haven’t had a chance to submit written testimony, you can still do so and encourage the City to keep this work moving quickly.

What This Resolution Does (and where the project is now)

The Inner Eastside is one of Portland’s most walkable and transit-rich areas, close to major job centers and beloved commercial districts. Yet most of the land is still zoned for low-density housing. We are working to ensure that neighbors of all ages, wages, and stages of life can make their home there.

The Inner Eastside for All campaign is a community effort led by Portland: Neighbors Welcome advocating for more homes across Inner Eastside neighborhoods. The City’s official planning effort is called the Inner Eastside Area Planning project, led by the Bureau of Planning and Sustainability.

This planning work is currently in its early ramp-up phase, with City staff conducting foundational analysis and coordinating internally.

The resolution helps keep the project moving by:

• Requiring a 90-day report on how the City can accelerate the planning timeline

• Setting a goal of bringing zoning changes to Council by June 2027

• Directing City bureaus involved in zoning, land use planning, infrastructure planning, engineering, and budget development to coordinate to support the project

This project exists because Portland: Neighbors Welcome members spoke up. During development of the Housing Production Strategy in 2024, P:NW members advocated for the inclusion of the strategy that would become the Inner Eastside Area Planning Project (thank you 🥰).

We need your testimony to show councilors that Portland needs dynamic, walkable, mixed-income neighborhoods with a variety of housing types for people of all ages, wages, and life stages.

Sample Talking points: Why we need more homes in Portland’s inner eastside

• Where housing is built matters. Allowing higher-density housing in neighborhoods close to jobs and schools with adequate infrastructure, and high-quality transit, pedestrian, and bike facilities is necessary to improve equity, environmental sustainability, resilience, affordability, vibrancy, and housing opportunity in line with the City’s goals and values.

• The Inner Eastside benefits from close proximity to job centers and transit, but the vast majority of the land remains zoned for low-density residential housing. This shifts the burden of housing production to other neighborhoods, like those in North and Outer East Portland where residents are at a higher risk for displacement.

• Adding residents near the Central City and Lloyd Redevelopment Center will assist in revitalizing both parts of Portland.

• We need to maximize the area being upzoned. In the past, higher-density housing was allowed on the Inner Eastside’s residential streets - there are aging apartment buildings on quiet streets throughout the area. But many of these buildings are aging, and as they become obsolete they cannot under current zoning be replaced by new multifamily housing.

• Allowing more people to live in neighborhoods that do not require a car to access essential services is in line with the City’s goal of increasing the share of non-car modes, and is essential for reducing greenhouse gas emissions and improving air quality. Increasing density also improves transit efficiency.

• The City’s own Inclusionary Housing Story Map shows that most of the Inner Eastside has an opportunity score of 5 - the highest score on the City’s scale. High-opportunity areas should be prioritized for new housing construction, but high land prices in these neighborhoods mean that lower-density housing isn’t financially feasible.

Template Testimony

You can use this testimony as inspiration for your own distinct remarks, as a template to build upon, or as a plug-and-play form letter. What’s most important is that you testify.

Dear Chairs Morillo and Novick, and members of the committee,

My name is [Name] and I [live/work] in [neighborhood/area]. I’m writing in support of advancing the Inner Eastside Area Planning project, and I appreciate the committee considering this resolution to keep the work moving forward.

Portland needs more homes in neighborhoods close to jobs, schools, parks, and transit. Re-legalizing street-scale apartments and neighborhood corner stores in the Inner Eastside would help welcome current and future neighbors of all ages, wages, and stages of life.

[Optional: 1–2 sentences about your personal connection to housing or the neighborhood. For example: why living near transit matters to you, your experience with housing costs, or why you want walkable neighborhoods that welcome more neighbors.]

The Inner Eastside is one of Portland’s most opportunity-rich areas, yet most of the land is still zoned for low-density housing. Updating these rules would help share housing opportunity more broadly across the city while supporting walkable neighborhoods and local businesses.

Please support continued progress on the Inner Eastside Area Planning project and ensure the City moves this work forward with urgency.

Thank you for your time and consideration.

Sincerely,
[Name]