Advocate Roadmap: Upcoming Metro Performance Standards and Functional Plan Changes Impacting Housing.

On Tuesday March 2, 2010, the Portland Metro Council held a work session that included a discussion about a follow up audit from the Metro Auditor about performance measurements and reporting. (My prior blog post is HERE).

I have extracted and added an audio link to this recording in my Metro Housing Watch document found in the right pane of the blog.

My observations from the meeting and after a review of related documents:

1. Metro has NOT reported on progress towards affordable housing goals since 2004.
   
2. Metro has NEVER reported on changes in affordable housing supply, as required by Functional Plan changes adopted by ordinance in January 2007.
3. June 2010 will mark the 10 year anniversary since Metro Council accepted the Regional Affordable Housing Strategy, prepared after a two year long series of meetings. There has been virtually no reporting on progress towards affordable housing goals, or changes in affordable housing supply in this 10 year period.
   
4. Both of the reporting requirements in items 1 and 2 are found in the Metro Functional Plan. While Metro has suspended reporting for two years via a November 2007 memo (copy HERE), UNLESS changes are made to the Functional Plan these local government requirements remain in effect.
5. Metro says they will be working on performance measures AND changes in the Functional plan in the coming months. Council and staff however provided no specific timetable to the Metro auditor.
6. Metro Technical Advisory and Policy Advisory Committees are where changes in performance measures and functional plans will initially surface. Tracking the agendas and meeting packages for those meetings is imperative.
   
7. Metro is also engaging in a longer term “Regional Indicators” project that will likely involve measurements that may NOT be enforceable, unless they are added to Functional Plans. Some of these indicators likely will use census 2010 data, so they will NOT be available until late in 2011 or in 2012.
   
8. Other Metro areas with Indicator projects have published multiple housing indicators. However, if the experience of the non unfunded Oregon Progress Board is a guide, keeping it simple is a key goal for any Metro performance measurement scheme. Annual tracking of the joint housing/transportation index to city and neighborhood levels should be the first priority, along with the existing requirements for reporting changes in the supply of income restricted affordable housing.
   

Suggestions for Housing Advocates:

1. Monitor the agendas for the Council,MTAC, and MPAC to look for agenda items related to performance measurements and/or changes in the Framework or Functional Plan. (Metro's calendar page is HERE).Example: On Wednesday March 10th, MPAC will hear a presentation about the planned Regional Indicators effort. (Within the packet for that meeting HERE, look at pages 16-19).
2. Look at the soon to be published 2035 Regional Transportation plan to see IF there is a housing /transportation affordability index Outcome, 2000 baseline data, and if there any discussion of inclusion in changes to Functional Plans. The 2035 Transportation plan is scheduled to open for public comment on March 22.
   
3. Avoid "Rope a Dope". Do NOT allow your attention to get diverted completely away from remaining alert to proposed changes in Metro Framework and Functional Plans affecting housing, especially deletion of existing requirements.
   
4. IF the new OUTCOME goal for housing is, as anticipated, something like "Reduction in the % of households with transportation/housing cost burden from 2000 Census" it is important that:

• This outcome does NOT replace the existing Functional Plan requirements to track progress toward affordable housing goals and changes in affordable housing supply.
• This outcome is ADDED to the Functional Plan so that each of the cities in the Portland Metro area are REQUIRED to report on progress.
• Metro assemble 2000 baseline data for ALL Metro cities so that goals are NOT shown only for "subareas" for which there is no political elected equivalent.
• Metro track changes in performance for ALL Metro cities so that outcomes are not simply shown for the region as a whole, or for "subareas".
• Metro use an EXISTING source of data to compile reports on the income restricted supply of affordable housing. Metro would then simply supply city specific reports to ALL metro CITIES, who can then ADD any additional locally funded income restricted projects to the list in a prescribed format OR accept the report from Metro as is.(Read this as advocating for a SUSTAINABLE reporting scheme, or as the observation that "the perfect is the enemy of the good").
  
• Incentives be provided to communities who document progress towards their affordable housing goals via preservation or additions to the supply of income restricted housing. Further, these incentives need to be built into the Functional Plan, and into Metro funding criteria.
  

Originally created and posted on the Oregon Housing Blog.