Portland pilot program puts homeless in residents' backyards

[inanna]

Source: Associated Press

Mar. 17, 2017 6:56 PM ET

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Faced with an intractable homeless problem, officials in Portland are thinking inside the box.

A handful of homeless families will soon move into tiny, government-constructed modular units in the backyards of willing homeowners. Under the pilot program taking effect this summer, the homeowners will take over the heated, fully plumbed tiny houses in five years and can use them for rental income.

The project, called A Place for You, is believed to be the first in the nation to recruit stable residents to address a homeless crisis that's gotten so bad the city last year declared a state of emergency and made it legal to sleep on the street.

Portland has an affordable rental shortage of 24,000 units and nearly 4,000 people sleep on the street, in a shelter or in transitional housing each night. Residents just passed a $260 million housing bond, but it will be two years before those units are ready, said Mary Li, director of Multnomah County's new Idea Lab, which developed the concept.

Read more: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2017-03-17-US--Portland%20Homeless-Backyard%20Flats/id-7d181038668b4a3cba18f95ecafb1a22

[BumRushDaShow]

1. And ironically

the big homebuilders around the nation continue to build McMansions that sit empty rather than build the smaller, more affordable homes guaranteed to be occupied and expected to provide (real estate tax) income to the municipalities where they are located.

[TexasTowelie]

2. But what will the neighbors think?

While it is a noble goal, I would want to speak to the other people that may be impacted by the presence of the shelters and tenants since it is the neighborly thing to do.

Full disclosure: I was homeless for a brief period in 2014 so I am not unsympathetic to the plight of homelessness.

[pnwmom]

3. Are you suggesting neighbors should be given veto power?

Portland has 4,000 people living in the streets. How do the neighbors of the street people and tent villages feel?

The 200-square-foot units under consideration will be large enough to house an adult and one — or possibly two — children, Li said.
All families will be screened and the homeowner and the tenants will sign a lease that spells out what behaviors won't be tolerated.

The families will receive social services that the county already provides to all homeless families they house, Li said, and they will pay 30 percent of the rent themselves.

Housing officials in the city and surrounding Multnomah County have increasingly turned to so-called "tiny houses" and even portable sleeping pods.

The new mayor, Ted Wheeler, has said he wants to move away from the unplanned tent villages that sprung up under his predecessor — often in gentrifying neighborhoods — and focus on planned communities of small, more permanent dwellings until the city can build more apartments.

[TexasTowelie]

4. No.

However, I think that the polite thing to do is to consult with the neighbors and show respect for their concerns. If a large percentage of them opposed then I would try to avoid the conflict by being deliberately defiant. There are reasons why zoning restrictions and nuisance laws exist (and no, homeless people should not be considered to be a nuisance unless their actions and behavior make them so).

If I lived in an area zoned for single-family residences then I could understand why people could be become upset if multiple structures appear on a property. While the person that added the structure might collect additional rent and see their property value increase, it may cause the nearby properties to lose value.

I don't know if I can address your question about how the neighbors of the street people feel. Some of them will be genuinely happy to see the homeless escape their plight. Other will be happy to get rid of the homeless because if they are out-of-sight, then they are also out-of-mind. Others will be disappointed for various reasons that I may not have thought about.

It is a complex question concerning how the property rights of one person affect the rights of others. If you believe that each person has the right to use their property without regard to others, then the answer will most likely differ from those who weigh their property rights against the rights of others.

I don't have the solution for homelessness and I'm only indicating my opinion on this particular program, so YMMV.

[pnwmom]

5. The city isn't placing any of these units in neighborhoods with zoning that would ban them,

and the tenants will be screened. It's hard to see how this will be worse for nearby homeowners than having the people living in the street.

[TexasTowelie]

6. The point that the structures were only going into the areas

where the homeless are already occupying was not made clear in the article. If the idea is to keep them in the same general location, then I certainly prefer that they have a home.

[pnwmom]

7. Portland has a huge homeless problem for a city its size. So this will just be a small start.

But they are trying to locate the houses in places close to transportation, grocery stores, and services that can be walked to -- the same kinds of places homeless people generally tend to live. And they will be preferable to the ad-hoc "tent cities" that have been popping up.

[Thunderbeast]

8. Portland zoning allows Adjunct Dwellings Units

In an effort to increase urban density, the City of Portland has modified zoning definitions to encourage ADUs in neighborhoods zoned for single-family residences (R5 and R2.5). I live in an historic district where tiny houses are popping up in back yards to house family members or as AirBnB rentals. It is a sensible approach. This sounds like a reasonable, economical way to address our chronic problem of homeless campers sleeping on the streets and in the parks.

[pnwmom]

9. Thanks for the info, Thunderbeast! Good for the people of Portland.

And welcome to DU!