Renee Stephens (running for Commissioner position 2)

Do you support policies that have been passed to ensure every neighborhood in the City of Portland welcomes more neighbors, by allowing middle housing (smaller, denser, lower-cost housing options like smallplexes, cottage clusters, and small-to-moderate-sized apartment complexes), via both the nonprofit and private markets? (e.g., Residential Infill Project and Design Overlay Zone Amendments)?

Yes, and the policies should be strengthened.

Housing is an element of the living experience that should help to promote health, safety, and satisfaction/happiness. A well maintained dwelling is the back bone of a productive community. As a society we must be doing everything we possibly can to make sure that everyone is well cared for and that means having a home; there should be limited barriers and over-whelming opportunities to establish such an environment for every person. A home should be defined and construed liberally. I would like to see more zoning provisions made for tiny homes and sustainable environmentally integrated housing. Housing should not be considered a profit based industry and is a right for all citizens. There should be no monetary restrictions barring citizens from housing.

Should close-in, low-density neighborhoods be rezoned to allow mixed-income apartment buildings, in order to increase access to amenity-rich neighborhoods, reduce our auto dependence, and relieve displacement pressure on neighborhoods currently home to higher proportions of communities of color and working class Portlanders?

Yes, everywhere within a certain distance of the city center.

We need to be caring for everyone and everyone needs to get comfortable with the idea of reasonably accommodating everyone else.

What should Portland do to encourage the development of middle housing (smaller, denser, lower-cost housing options like smallplexes, cottage clusters, and small-to-moderate sized apartment complexes), via both the nonprofit and private markets?

(checklist selections) Invest in the development of regulated affordable homes like these, even if it requires more public subsidy per unit than larger multifamily developments; Acquire land for development of affordable middle housing; Incentivize the development of middle housing (e.g., property tax exemptions); Legalize affordable and culturally-responsive sixplex townhomes in lower-density zones; Expedite land division for affordable sixplexes to increase homeownership opportunities; Allow fourplexes to be slightly larger than triplexes, to incentivize more projects that meet accessibility standards.

Housing needs to be accessible to everyone, no matter what the cost. There is not too much money that we can spend to house everyone.

Should landowners be able to create historic districts that block lower-cost and below-market homes from high-opportunity neighborhoods without the permission of city council?

Yes. We need to protect communities that people already depend on.

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?)

More money.

We should spend as much money is as needed to make sure that everyone is properly housed. Honestly, I believe that money should not be a mechanism considered at all when it comes to housing people. We should start considering the lives of people as valuable enough to be worth housing.

The City of Portland has a deficit of 19,804 homes affordable to people earning less than 80% Median Family Income (MFI). According to ECONorthwest: “the market has produced little rental or homeownership housing affordable to those below 80% of MFI, and almost no housing below 50% of MFI over the past 20 years. This supports the need for public subsidy to meet the needs of lower-income households.” How would you eliminate the deficit of homes affordable to people earning less than 80 percent of MFI and over what period of time?

We have to let people buy the apartments they are living in.

Should affordable housing be equitably distributed across all communities in the City of Portland? In other words, should the City ensure the addition of affordable housing to neighborhoods with a lower than average share of subsidized affordable housing?

Yes. We have to get comfortable with accommodating each other.

What actions would you support to address the homelessness crisis in the City of Portland?

(checklist selections) Invest in permanent supportive housing; Invest in behavioral health and other supportive services; Invest in capacity of outreach workers to connect with more people experiencing homelessness; Provide supportive services to and support the self governance of self-organized homeless encampments; Remove barriers to extremely-low-cost market-rate options like backyard homes on wheels, rooming houses and vacant-bedroom rentals; Give people cash or vouchers; Encourage the expansion of sanctioned outdoor shelters; Build new congregant shelters that sleep from 100 to 1,000 people; Build new congregant shelters that sleep no more than 100 people; Ban camping in certain places.

Everyone needs a home.

What policies would you support to advance racial equity in housing access and promote housing stability for all residents and especially Black, Indigenous, and people of color who face disproportionate barriers to housing access?

(checklist selections) Reduce other rental barriers (e.g., eviction history, credit history, etc). Expand investment in emergency rent assistance to prevent evictions for nonpayment of rent. Support fair housing enforcement. Down payment assistance for Black, indigenous, and people of color. Capacity support for culturally specific organizations interested in developing affordable housing. Invest in permanent supportive housing for people exiting institutional settings (e.g., criminal justice, state hospital, in patient treatment). Expand investment in affordable housing, Land back to indigenous people. Reparations and repair for Black residents of Multnomah County impacted by racism in the housing market (e.g., urban renewal, Vanport flood, etc.)

There should not be any barriers to housing people.

What currently proposed tenant protection policies do you support that would protect tenants from unjust eviction or landlord harassment?

(checklist selections) Proposed Tenant Protection Ordinance, which would define specific behaviors as landlord harassment, impose monetary penalties onto landlords as consequences for harassment, and strengthen the Rental Services office to support vulnerable tenants who are experiencing harassment; Proposed Eviction Representation for All ballot measure, which would provide free legal representation to all tenants in eviction court in Multnomah County.

Optional question: Whose voices should be centered in developing housing and land use policy across the greater Metro area?

(checklist selections) People experiencing homelessness, tenants, homeowners.

Optional question: What else should Portland's anti-racist, pro-housing, pro-tenant community know about you & your candidacy?

I want to stop corruption in our system because my daughter was the victim of a crime that has been covered up by every level of our government.

R. Stephens received a B overall from our scoring committee. See all scores for this primary election and read about our process here.