City Council’s first responsibility is to stop making Portland more expensive. Water, sewer, stormwater, garbage, parking, taxes and fees are not really independent line items to a household; they are the combined cost of living in Portland.
I created the Portland Affordability Rule, which would combine City-controlled household costs and keep their growth below the three-year average growth in Portland median household income. Council would see the combined effect of proposed costs at the same time instead of approving increases separately. If the combined cost is growing faster than Portland household incomes, Council would have to reduce, delay or offset discretionary increases.
I would automatically enroll eligible households in utility discounts. For Bull Run, I would pursue grants and direct state and federal contributions instead of adding debt and charging households for it.
I would expand Portland’s existing fund to acquire commercial properties for conversion into permanently affordable housing and include housing conversion as one possible use in my Grid-Connected Core plan.
Portland has budgeted $500,000 for a home-sharing pilot, but almost no one has applied. My proposed Home-Share Mitigation Fund would keep the security-deposit ban, to help the renter, but use part of that money to protect homeowners against damage or sudden vacancy.
