On Monday evening, March 12, CPAH hosted a community forum on Affordable Housing in the Metro Region – Past, Present, and Future. Looking into the room, I could see that there was a wide range of people participating. I recognized colleagues and partner organizations, but also, there were a lot of new faces. Our panelists Steve Rudman, Consultant and former Executive Director of Home Forward, Andrea Sanchez, Depuy Director of the Housing Development Center, and Lorelei Juntunen, Partner/President at ECOnorthwest, did an amazing job of sharing information about challenges and opportunities. Israel Bayer from Metro moderated the conversation, while Angela Martin from HereTogether facilitated the question-and-answer session.
I heard a lot of great feedback after the event, that our audience learned new things and/or felt inspired to continue their work. There were so many important messages throughout the evening, including:
- the history of federal disinvestment and the changing market;
- that the need for affordable housing is something that people with different political views support;
- the positive impacts of the regional housing bond and levy;
- challenges related to resources and workforce;
- strategies connected to land use;
- the need to see housing as an important infrastructure;
- ways to be involved in welcoming new affordable communities to our neighborhoods.
We also want to thank Broadway Rose Theater for donating the space, Outside the Frame for filming the event, and the city of Tigard for their support as well. We will be posting it shortly for those of you who either missed it or would like to see it again.
At the end of the evening, Israel reminded us that we need to keep talking with each other, to our friends, family members, coworkers, and neighbors, about the need to support efforts to increase affordable housing and ways to invite people into our communities.
Warmly –
Rachael Duke, Executive Director
