It’s no secret that Portland is experiencing rapid growth. Neighborhoods in downtown and in Portland’s inner core are booming. Many local businesses are thriving. All one has to do to experience the prosperity is spend a night in any number of Portland neighborhoods to see that the whiskey is flowing and life is good.
The landlords and developers have to be happy. The machinery behind tens of millions of dollars have come barreling out of the recession through new urban renewal districts. Those lucky enough to have survived the Great Recession are now sitting on a gold mine. The vacancy rates are virtually nil and you’ve got to believe that the increased rents around the region are making for a great payday for the handful of investors who have the resources to pay to play. Good on them.
Next month the City of Portland will consider legalizing more short-term rental units for local homeowners and landlords. Is this a good thing? Depends on your perspective. Companies such as Airbnb and VRBO help facilitate renting thousands of homes, or dwellings to visitors for 30 days or less. Many of those rentals are for very short periods of time, like an extended weekend. The company takes a cut from each of the transactions and homeowners and landlords benefit from the rental. With the arrival of Airbnb to Portland, the city and county intend to apply its standard lodging tax to those short-term rentals.
Currently, the county allocates $250,000 of the money collected in lodging fees toward housing programs to support hard working Portlanders. Now, Commissioner Dan Saltzman is proposing taking 25 percent of the revenue made from taxing these short-term rentals and putting it toward a new affordable housing fund.
Awesome you say? Yes, but there’s more. At least there should be more — money, that is — from these new rentals going toward the housing fund from both the city and county.
Former Housing Commissioner Erik Sten once told me the thing he appreciates most about Street Roots is that every time the city allocates more resources toward housing and homeless services, we always thank the city kindly and then immediately point out that we should be doing more and that it’s simply not enough.
We are certainly behind Housing Commissioner Dan Saltzman and County Chair Marissa Madrigal for supporting a vast array of housing services, including allocating money from this specific program. But hey, let’s be honest. We should be doing more.
Here’s what we know.
Portland is down about 20,000 affordable housing units. Thousands of people go without any kind of shelter at all. Rental prices are not going down anytime soon, in fact, they are skyrocketing. The city is experiencing unmitigated gentrification, pushing hardworking people of color and low-income folks out of the city’s urban core. The resources we currently allocate toward the problem doesn’t come close to solving it.
The majority of the money from the lodging taxes in Portland and Multnomah County go to the general fund. Considering the fiscal priorities given to tourism in this town, we should be investing more than a small percentage of that revenue to offset the displacement of residents.
County Chairwoman-elect Deborah Kafoury recently said in debate at the City Club of Portland, “If somebody doesn’t have an address to put on a job application, it really doesn’t matter what the job is that they’re applying for.” And if we don’t find a solution to the current housing crisis, people of color and low-income people won’t be accessing our schools, parks, and the other treasures Portland has to offer either.
We have work to do. We’re looking for our leaders to lead and to go big. It’s what a thriving Portland deserves.
