We won! The text below is from our successful 2020 campaign to pass Portland’s residential infill project.
Portland is one public testimony away from achieving the most progressive reform to low-density zoning in American history.
Let’s not lose momentum now — and let’s not let our leaders lose momentum once they’ve passed this, either.
At a final virtual public hearing June 3 (replacing the one that was canceled March 12) Portland’s city council will hear testimony about a series of proposed amendments — some good, some bad — to the city’s plan to add more housing choices, prioritize regulated-affordable homes, increase age-friendly and physically accessible housing, and reduce displacement of low-income renters citywide.
Some homeowners, of course, will be there to oppose the plan. With your help, we will again outnumber, out-argue and outflank them. Here’s what we urge you to do:
Participate in the final public testimony on June 3. You can sign up here to speak to city council by video. (When they ask which agenda item number you want to address, just enter “RIP.”)
Our key message: don’t stop here.
We support the technical amendments 1 through 4 and amendment 6, the crucial “deeper affordability” bonus to allow below-market family-size homes on any lot in the city.
We oppose amendment 7. This amendment would ban triplexes, fourplexes, and regulated affordable 5- and 6-plexes in certain affluent neighborhoods. In addition, amendment 7 would do nothing to incentivize internal conversions or the retention of historic buildings.
More broadly, we call your attention to the fact that as exciting as this project is, as much as it will help create a better city for future generations, it is neither adequate to the full needs of future Portlanders nor a solution to the immediate crises many Portlanders face today. More action is needed soon: a citywide anti-displacement strategy; new funding to fight homelessness and build deeply affordable homes; zoning reforms to bring larger mixed-income buildings to currently exclusive areas near jobs and transit. Pass this plan, but do not rest on it.
Whether or not you take part, submit digital testimony along these lines to the city’s Map App. Your written message doesn’t have to be long; if you want, you can just say you support the plan and the position of Portland: Neighbors welcome.
A broad coalition of pro-housing voices swamped the opposition during six hours of public testimony Jan. 15-16. You can read some of their written testimony here.
This will be a historic victory. It could shift Portland’s housing narrative for decades to come. It will be worth running up the score a little bit — and you’ll want to have been part of it.