My Presentation from Oregon APA Convention Panel on Affordable Housing, Density, and Diversity.

My PowerPoint presentation from today's panel is HERE and embedded below.


I expect other presentations from this meeting will be posted soon on the Oregon Chapter APA website HERE.

Originally created and posted on the Oregon Housing Blog.

Update: Downtown $50M+ LO Mixed Use Redevelopment Site Proposal: 240 Apts , Rents @$1,500-$2,600.

Update: 
Lake Oswego Review story HERE says that developer will be looking for a $5 milllion city commitment. This was not discussed during the public portion of the LORA meeting, so it may have come up in Executive Session or in following City Council meeting or in seperate discussion with developers. Story also indicates 242 apartments, not 240 and that waiver of 4 story height limit would also be required. 
-----

Months after terminating the Foothills Redevelopment Urban Renewal Plan and planned funding for affordable rental housing, the City Council, acting as the LO Redevelopment Agency, heard a presentation this week about a mixed use plan to redevelop the underutilized downtown Wizer Block. 

While details are initially absent from the posted on line materials, I attended the LORA meeting; my notes on the planned development include some VERY preliminary numbers:

1. 240 Apartments over retail with enclosed courtyard, up to 5 stories.
2. Retail , 30k Sq. Ft. 
3. Permanent retail jobs , 30-40. 
4. Temporary Construction jobs, 1K? (Likely part year, not FTE).
5. Could get close to 500 parking spaces, 130 for retail, and up to 360 for apartment residents. Parking per resident, 1.2 to 1.5 spaces per unit. 
6. The project requires some Planning Commission approvals, including approval of ground floor housing. 
7. Projected increase in property taxes $680k per year; additional one time $193k to Lake Oswego schools in construction excise tax.
8. Bedroom Distribution: 108 1 BR, 120 2 BR, 12 3 BR. 
9. Rents : 1 BR $1,500;at 750 sq.ft that would be $2 a sq.ft. Top rental rate is projected at $2,600 per month. 
10. Using $200k cost per unit, and modest retail and other costs, this project looks to easily be a $50m+ project.    

Oregonian story HERE has details about development firm (O story says 280 apartments, but my notes in two different places say 240 units; I think 280 was mentioned as low end # of parking spaces for apartments).

Originally created and posted on the Oregon Housing Blog. 

Lake Oswego City Council Looking to Gut Comprehensive Plan Revisions, Including Affordable Housing Provisions?

I was alerted to changes in Lake Oswego Review letter to editor HERE.

A staff report in the City Council agenda packet from April 2nd meeting says this about comp plan provisions, including affordable housing and fair housing:

A good portion of the proposed Comprehensive Plan statements may have unintended consequences. These statements raise concerns about what should be the City’s role in implementing them. A concern could be that interest groups and individuals would point to these policies and statements as being ones the City should back up with actions. ...There are other statements throughout the plan that should be evaluated, such as the following...
Set broad ten- and twenty-year goals for the identification and production of affordable housing units in Lake Oswego along with specific five-year targets based on near-term conditions and resources
availability. (Proposed Policy C – 1, Housing Affordability)
Provide fair access to housing that does not restrict housing choice or the availability of housing
choice because of race, color, religion, sex, disability, familial status, national origin, marital status, sexual orientation, gender identity, or source of income, in addition to any other protected status under state, federal or local law. (Proposed Policy C-2, Housing Affordability)

Staff then suggests how Lake Oswego can "accomodate" affordable housing and fair housing with less "specific" comp plan statements:

For example, the above very specific statements regarding affordable housing and fair access to housing may not be appropriate for a City that has no housing program. It could just as well be accommodated by a general statement that the City will support/observe state and federal law to the extent that it engages in providing housing opportunities in conjunction with affordable housing providers.

Council is to consider a motion on this at their April 16th meeting that would 

Direct Staff to accomplish the following in the preparation of final revisions to the Comprehensive Plan before they are presented to the Planning Commission and the City Council for public hearings and final adoption:
1. Remove subject matter, goals and policies that are unrelated to land use;.........
3. Remove policies that direct the City to increase residential densities and to add mixed uses in neighborhood residential zones;
4. Remove policies that may obligate the City to future actions that would have budgetary impacts;  

The Planning Commission is currently scheduled to hold a April 22nd hearing on comp plan revisions, including housing provisions. If the subject City Council motion passes at the April 16th meeting, apparently staff would strip out revised comp plan provisions that meet the criteria identified in the motion prior to the public hearing. 

Originally created and posted on the Oregon Housing Blog.

Video from Lake Oswego Council Meeting Terminating Foothills Urban Renewal, Including Affordable Housing Funding.

My prior post on the repeal is HERE; video I created and posted to the Internet Archive is HERE and embedded below. [My testimony is at 1:08:50 and the testimony of Pegge McGuire is at 1:33:02].

(Post with video of prior Council approval of Foothills Urban Renewal Plan and Area, from December 4, 2012, is HERE).



Note that file can be viewed on line or downloaded, but that download size is VERY large at 1.7 GB's.

Originally created and posted on the Oregon Housing Blog.

Disconnect in Oregonian Stories on Housing Choice and Foothills.

Last summer the Oregonian did an extensive "Locked Out" series of stories about housing choice, including the absence of housing choice in Lake Oswego and West Linn. 

It was troubling therefore for me to read the only Oregonian story to date on the killing of the Foothills Urban renewal district last Tuesday. The district funding included $6.5 million for affordable housing in Foothills, the first ever local affordable housing funding ever approved by the city of Lake Oswego. The story did not even mention the loss of funding for affordable housing in the Foothills district let alone include any reaction from affordable housing /fair housing advocates.  

I get that the Oregonian story was produced by a reporter in a suburban/neighborhood beat and the Oregonian Locked Out series was produced by the main Oregonian staff.  

While I suppose it is reassuring that the Oregonian has the same "silo" disconnect problems as any large institution, the failure to take note of the significance of Lake Oswego affordable funding last December and the killing of affordable housing funding last week is troubling to me.

Originally created and posted on the Oregon Housing Blog.

Foothills Urban Renewal Goes Down, Lake Oswego Affordable Housing Funding with It.

Despite a motion from new Councilman Gustafson to table the resolution to repeal the Foothills Urban Renewal Area and Plan, the new Council was determined to kill it and it was killed by a vote of 4 to 2 (would have been 5 to 2 if the Mayor was in town; Councilwoman Jordan was the other vote to table the motion). This means that $6.5 million in TIF funding for affordable housing in Lake Oswego is lost.

I very much appreciated support letters from Oregon ON and Enterprise to keep the renewal area and plan in place; my written testimony is HERE.  The Chamber of Commerce and School District also testified in support of keeping the Foothills Urban Renewal area and plan, but to no avail.

In addition to my oral testimony, Pegge McGuire of the Fair Housing Council of Oregon also testified in person and sat through the nearly 4 hour session.

I will be working to provide Metro with information about Lake Oswego's rejection of affordable housing funding, which should be a factor in evaluating LO applications for competitive regional grants including construction excise funding and discretionary transportation funding.

Originally created and posted on the Oregon Housing Blog.

Lake Oswego City Council Moving to Kill Foothills Urban Renewal, Including Affordable Housing Funding.

The Lake Oswego City Council has scheduled a hearing next Tuesday February 5th that includes an agenda item to kill the Foothills Urban Renewal Plan and Foothills Urban Renewal area. 

The existing plan and area had been approved by the prior  City Council on December 18th and included $6.5 million in TIF funding for affordable housing.  (My latest post about that meeting, which includes a link to my December 4th testimony, can be found HERE).

Full materials for the meeting have not yet been posted, but they should be added soon to the web page for the meeting that can be found HERE. 

Originally created and posted on the Oregon Housing Blog. 

Lake Oswego City Council Does the Right Thing: Approves Foothills Urban Renewal Plan With $6.5 Million in TIF for Affordable Housing.

By a 4-3 vote the Lake Oswego City Council on Tuesday night adopted an Urban Renewal Plan for Foothills that includes a $6.5 million TIF authorization for affordable housing; this occurred at the end of a continuation of a public hearing that started at the December 4th Council meeting.

While modest given the community wide need and the projected $574 million as completed assessed value of the Foothills project, this committment :

• Is the first ever LO local commitment of (future) funds for affordable housing;  
• Is equivalent to 8.75 times the Clackamas County 2012 HUD HOME allocation of $743k.

The City Council action caps a year long effort that was only successful because of the support of members of the City Council, the Planning Commission, dedicated work from City staff and their consultants, and repeated testimony and support of multiple non profit groups and local citizens. [I count in excess of 10 Foothills meetings in the last year].

My testimony for the December 4th public hearing is HERE; similar testimony was presented by Enterprise Community Partners, NW Housing Alternatives, NOAH, the Fair Housing Council of Oregon, Housing Development Center, and Housing Land Advocates.

Video from Dec. 4th Meeting
During the first City Council meeting on December 4th, I offered oral testimony as did Martha Mclennan from NW Housing. Martha and Michelle Haines from REACH have attended several Foothills related City Council sessions and I very much appreciate their in-person participation.

I have loaded a VERY large video of December 4th public hearing to Internet Archive HERE and embedded it also below. Public testimony starts at 11:50; my testimony and Martha's start at 35:47. You can either view this video on line or download it (1.2GB!).

In a day or so you should be able to view the Dec 18th City Council meeting video on line from the cable access website HERE.

 

For their support this past year I want to specifically recognize these individuals and organizations:

Mayor/City Council 
Mayor Jack Hoffman
Counselor Tierney 
Counselor Moncrief  
Counselor Jordan

Lake Oswego Planning Commission

City Staff and Consultants
Brant Williams
Jane Blackstone
Sin Sidaro
Denny Egner
Sara Selden

Elaine Howard; Elaine Howard Consulting, LLC
Abe Farkas, Nick Popenuk; ECONorthwest
Christe White, Matt Brown; Williams, Dame, and White
John Warner, Bluetree Strategies

Housing Non Profits
Pegge McGuire, Fair Housing Council of Oregon
Bill Van Vliet and Rob Prasch, Network of Affordable Housing
Amanda Saul, Enterprise Community Partners
Robin Boyce and Cathey Briggs, Housing Development Center
John Miller, Oregon Opportunity Network
Martha McClennan, Northwest Housing Association
Ellen Johnson, Rebecca Kennedy, Christopher Marin, Jenny Logan; Housing Land Advocates
Michelle Haines and Dee Walsh; REACH

LO Citizens
Tom Brennan, 50+ Board Chair, CAC Member
Scott Bullard, Board member, Northwest Housing Association
Michelle Haines (REACH Housing Development Director)

I am worried that despite my best efforts, I may have forgotten someone; if so PLEASE bring to my attention and I will update the listing in this post. 

The Future; Foothills Benefits Far Exceed 6 Cents a Year Average Annual Cost to LO Homeowner
The changes in Lake Oswego City Council membership effective in January 2013 will no doubt cause a reexamination of the Foothills Plan. As a Lake Oswego resident I am confident that a fair review of the plan will find the benefits from the projects included in the plan (including affordable housing) FAR exceed the costs.

The Benefits:

• 9,000 years of income restricted affordable housing.
• Physical benefits include additional parking, street improvements, a new pedestrian plaza, and significantly better access to Foothills Park and the river.
• Financial benefits include a 10% increase in city wide assessed values and a 4500%+ increase from current Foothills property tax revenue; a $35 million in increased property tax revenue that will be SHARED with taxing districts during the UR Plan; and a $7.6+ million annual increase in property tax revenue after the plan is completed. 

The Costs: An Average of 6 Cents a Year.

• For a LO home with an assessed value of $250,000 the projected cost impact is an average of 6 cents a year during the life of the urban renewal plan. 

The administrative record of the last year is replete with testimony and data on the need for affordable housing in Lake Oswego and the feasibility of financing that future housing without any impact on current property tax revenues.

Sustaining Progress From This Year Will Require Others to Step Up Monitoring in the Coming Months/Years
I will continue to work to try to occasionally monitor Foothills progress but won't be able to make the same time intensive commitment as I did during the past year.

I  am looking to others to monitor planned meetings of the LO City Council, LO Planning Commission, and LO Redevelopment Agency and to alert me so that I can publish related information on the blog. 

Thanks again to all that participated in this important year long effort.

Originally created and posted on the Oregon Housing Blog.

Lake Oswego Housing Needs: In Last Decade The Number of Students Eligible for Reduced and Free Lunches Increased by 146% to More than 800.

I recently looked at some data on students eligible for reduced and free lunches in Lake Oswego.  

Compared to the HUD median family income for the Portland metro area of $73,000 students are eligible for 

• Free lunches at 41% of MFI (130% of poverty income or $29,965) or 
• Reduced cost lunches at 58% of MFI (185% of poverty or $42,643). 

The graph below shows the count of eligible students by school and for the district as a whole; the total count of eligible students in Lake Oswego schools increased from 330 to 812 in 2011-2012 (an increase of 482 students/146%).

NOT shown in the graph: 

• While the count of students eligible for free or reduced cost lunch increased by 482 (146%), total student enrollment decreased  by 383 (5.4%) from 7,133 to 6,750 students.
• This means that 12% of Lake Oswego school district students were eligible for free or reduced lunches in 2011-2012 school year vs 4.6% in 2001-2002. That's an even larger increase of 160% in the share of students eligible for free or reduced lunches in Lake Oswego schools.
• Some students who live in Lake Oswego attend City of Portland schools so counts for those students do not appear in LO School District counts. 

Note: School lunch enrollment data for districts can be found and downloaded HERE.

Originally created and posted on the Oregon Housing Blog.

Walmart Jobs/Income vs Lake Oswego Rents: Avg Wages At 31% MFI; $573 Affordable Rent FAR Below HUD $1,003 Rental Payment Standard.

The new mini Walmart in Lake Oswego is scheduled to open one month from now on October 24th. News stories have indicated that there will be up to 90 jobs at the new store, which is similar in configuration to a previously opened store in West Linn. 

I thought it would be useful to see whether these jobs paid enough to make Lake Oswego and West Linn rents affordable.

In the Excel table HERE and embedded below you will find a table that uses Walmart hourly wage rates from more than 2,600 wage reports made on the Pay Scale website. 

The table is sorted so the job categories with the highest number of wage reports (likely represented the most frequently occurring jobs) are at the top of the table. The affordable rent level that I used is the $1,003 HUD 2 BR voucher payment standard that I believe will be used for Lake Oswego and West Linn zip codes as of October 1st. (This is actually $108 LESS than the $1,111 Lake Oswego median gross rent reported  for the 2008-2010 ACS).

Observations: 

1. Out of 2,600+ wage reports, there were only 26 reports (1%) where monthly income was high enough so that the worker would NOT pay 30% or more of their income for Lake Oswego/West Linn rent. Those job were pharmacists, store managers, optical store managers, and maintenance technicians.
2. The weighted average Walmart job from these reports paid $11.02 per hour, or $22,915 per year. That is equivalent to 31% of the Portland Metro MFI of $73,000.
3. Using this weighted average pay, the average full time Walmart worker from these reports would pay 53% of their income for rent. (Note that not all Walmart workers are full time).
4. There is no definitive way to know exact wages for Walmart jobs by occupation in Lake Oswego, but I think this data provides a useful, and sobering, frame of reference for retail wage rates in this economy. (Walmart says that it's average wage for ALL full time associates in Oregon for all occupations as of July 2012 was $13.04, $27,123 per year, or 37% of MFI. It's not clear if this is a weighted average by the number of jobs or not).
5. In Clackamas county as of July 2012, retail (16,900) trailed only educational and health services (19,000) as the industry with the highest number of employees.
6. Readers may recall that I have previously posted in May 2011 HERE an Excel workbook that allows side by side comparison of a wide variety of wages for different occupations vs rents for ALL Oregon metro areas.

Embedded Excel File:


Originally created and posted on the Oregon Housing Blog. 

Video/Audio of Lake Oswego City Council Work Session: Housing/Pop Forecast, Comp Plan Housing Policies.

The Lake Oswego City Council held a work session on September 11 that included discussion of revised housing and population forecasts and the proposed changes in housing comprehensive plan policies previously approved by the Planning Commission.  

Video
I did not attend this meeting however I obtained video and created a Iphone/Apple compatible video of entire 2+ hour discussion and posted it on the Internet Archive HERE. The housing and population forecast discussion is first, with the housing comp plan policy discussion starting at 50:24. 

Video file can be viewed online OR downloaded, but if you download, note that file is VERY large at 320+ MB's. (On line viewing of video takes a moment or two to start. File loaded readily using Internet Explorer or Chrome browsers but I had a little initial difficulty in getting it to load for online viewing using Firefox or Safari).  Tip: If you click on thumbnails in left pane, you can click on image and it jump to that portion of the video where speaker(s) in frame appear.

MP 3 Audio 
I have also uploaded an audio file of the meeting to the Internet Archive HERE; you can listen on line or download,  it is substantially smaller at 92 MB's. 

If after listening to the audio I find any specific comments of interest, I will update this post with start times for those comments.

Originally created and posted on the Oregon Housing Blog.

Update: Video+Audio: LO Foothills Framework Plan Inches Forward, No Changes to Affordable Housing Action Plan Items.

Update: I have added a smaller MP3 Audio File (88 MB's) in a new Internet Archive web page HERE. You can listen online or download this file from this web page.
--------------

Local Oregonian reporter story is HERE.

MS Word notes of my oral testimony provided to Council at meeting are HERE.

Council did not adopt any of my recommendations for changes/ additions to affordable housing Framework plan action items. My point about significant projected increases in land costs providing a potential source of private funding for affordable housing seemed to be lost on the Council, but I will continue to follow up on that issue, along with my other recommendations.

Extended 30 minute affordable housing discussion focused on costs of affordable housing, what "is" affordable housing, and consultant view that building TIF funding would take 10 years and require local political will/decision on what role LO wanted to play in providing affordable housing. (No discussion about Metro/state/federal legal obligations for doing so). Was some acknowledgement that "incremental" affordable housing actions could be taken before year 10. By far this was longest affordable housing discussion at City Council since 2005 Housing Task Force.

Video
I created a Iphone/Apple compatible video of entire 2 hour Foothills City Council discussion and posted it on the Internet Archive HERE. My short testimony occurs at 30:30 into video and a 30 minute plus affordable housing discussion starts at 1:03:30 into video. 

Video file can be viewed online or downloaded, but if you download, note that file is VERY large at 700 MB's. (On line viewing of video takes a moment or two to start. File loaded readily using Internet Explorer or Chrome browsers but I had some difficulty in getting it to load for online viewing using Firefox or Safari).

Originally created and posted on the Oregon Housing Blog.

Correction/Update: Lake Oswego City Council Gets Comp Plan Housing Policies Next, Following Planning Commission Changes and Approval.

Correction/Update: 
My sincere apologies, I overlooked support letter from REACH and have added them in listing below: 
---------
I attended Lake Oswego Planning Commission meeting on Monday night. With a couple of other agenda items, and then the public hearing and vote on housing Comp plan policies, the meeting had lasted for four hours, and was continuing, when I left.

The seven housing affordability policies were approved by 5-1 vote with some modifications from the CAC recommendations. Policies now move on to City Council for consideration, then will be returned to CAC and Planning Commission and back again to City Council for inclusion in April 2013 submission to the state. (I'm seeing a Portlandia episode here, but it will have to be a multi part show).

Thanks to the 4 non profits who took the time to write letters of support for the housing affordability policies:

• Enterprise
• Oregon Housing Preservation Project
• Oregon ON
• Northwest Housing Alternatives
• REACH

Policy C.1 language on goals was changed from "setting and achieve measurable goals" [with 5 year interim targets] to planning staff idea for 10 year goals with 5 year targets. Revised language will read something like 

"Set broad ten and twenty‐year goals for the production of affordable housing units in Lake Oswego, along with specific five‐year targets based on near‐term conditions and resource availability".

Policy C.4 Setting of minimum percentage of affordable housing in urban renewal zones had NO substantive  changes. Policy reads: 

Work with the Lake Oswego Redevelopment Agency to establish strategies and minimum target percentages of affordable housing units as part of Lake Oswego urban renewal plans. Tailor customized strategies for each plan to reflect the citywide targets required to accomplish affordable housing goals.

Policy C. 5 (No Net loss of affordable housing) was narrowed to focus on government assisted housing [My recommendation].

Policy C. 6 (Partnering with other agencies) was changed from "Partner" to "Participate"

Testimony at the hearing by others included lack of notice and limited time to reply, opposition to "density" and a belief that LO was trying to establish a city level Housing Authority. During my testimony I responded to Commissioner question to say that was not the intent, and pointed out the Housing Authority of Clackamas County was Oregon's oldest housing authority. 

Originally created and posted on the Oregon Housing Blog.

Repost: $395 Million in Government Assisted Loans in Lake Oswego, CY 2010; 1 in 6 Homeowners with Mortgage Received Government Assisted Home Loan.

In case some of my readers may have missed this post from earlier this year, check out the post HERE.

Originally created and posted on the Oregon Housing Blog.

Exclusive: Revised Drafts of Lake Oswego Foothills Sources and Uses and Financial Feasibility Analysis.

At the Foothills Oversight Committee meeting on Thursday, the members of the committee were presented for the first time with revised DRAFTS of a sources and uses statement and the financial feasibility analysis for the Lake Oswego Foothills redevelopment plan.  

I attended the meeting and my understanding is that some figures in the sources and uses table may not agree with the financial analysis document, so when the FINAL financial feasibility analysis is posted prior to the City Council meeting on July 10th, I expect to see some changes to the financial feasibility analysis presented at the Thursday Oversight Committee meeting.  That post may not occur until sometime next week.

With the caveat that this is still a DRAFT,(but still the only feasibility analysis update available since April) I have scanned these two documents into a single PDF file HERE. 

(Revised draft affordable housing language for the Foothills Framework Plan report was also presented at this meeting for the first time, but still lacked specific action items; I will address the Framework Plan affordable housing sections once I see a final version). 

The revised affordable housing language, the sources and uses statement, and the financial feasibility analysis were not available to the Foothills CAC members at their meeting on June 21, 2012.

Originally created and posted on the Oregon Housing Blog.

Lake Oswego Housing Comp Plan Docs Posted for July 9 Planning Commission Public Hearing on Housing Policies.

Agenda, and document package for PC public hearing on housing policies is HERE, and includes revised housing needs analysis. 

I will be studying over next several days to see changes from earlier drafts. 

Originally created and posted on the Oregon Housing Blog.

Lake Oswego Hollyfield Village OHCS Funding: 3rd Clackamas County Related Housing News in Last Two Days.

OHCS has included an existing HUD project based Section 8 project, Hollyfield Village in Lake Oswego, in the CFC funding recommendations announced today. 

My prior post with project list from OHCS is HERE.


Unfortunately, the project listing does not include units or dollars recommended, but I note that the application for this project from NW Housing Alternatives was for a total of $5.7 million which I believe included a commitment for  $200,000 from the Clackamas County HOME program. 

I note per the OHCS Director's message that Oregon Tax Credit applications for this cycle far exceeded the amount available, so it is possible the project did not receive the full requested funding in the OHCS recommendation.  

I will update this post once I know more about total funding approved for this project. 

Final award determinations will occur at a July 13th Oregon Housing Council meeting.

This Clackamas County housing funding announcement follows two other posts in the last two days highlighting Clackamas County related housing news:

1. A multi PHA jurisdiction  workforce development program that includes the Housing Authority of Clackamas County and 
2. A HACC housing voucher mobility pilot project with Home Forward in Multnomah County, that includes a boost in voucher payment standards for Lake Oswego and West Linn. 

Originally created and posted on the Oregon Housing Blog.

Correction: Oregon Housing Publishes List of Projects Recommended for CFC Funding.

Correction: Removed 2nd reference list of recommended projects; only recommended list currently available is found in OHCS Director's letter. 
=======
Letter from OHCS Director is HERE, projects listing is on second page but does not include unit counts or dollars. 

I will update once more information becomes available.

2012 applicant list is HERE. 

Originally created and posted on the Oregon Housing Blog.

Ironically, Hollyfield Village Lake Oswego Affordable Housing Story Ran 30 Years Ago Friday in Oregonian.

Text of June 22, 1982 story (via Multnomah County library) ,reporting June 15, 1982 Council action, is pasted below as an image:

Click to Enlarge

BTW....The Dow Jones closed that day at 789.85.

Originally created and posted on the Oregon Housing Blog.

Lake Oswego Mayor Comes out for Mandate on Affordable Housing in Foothills.

Interesting Oregonian column from Lake Oswego resident Steve Duin HERE on affordable housing and loss of families in Lake Oswego. Says that Mayor Hoffman is "with me" on the need for LO family friendly policies: 

LO Mayor Jack Hoffman is with me on this. When the city or its council decides that young families are a priority, he reminds us, there are numerous ways to welcome them: tax breaks, zoning changes, reduced utility rates, a mandate for affordable housing in the Foothills. 

This is good news. 

The even better news is that the opportunity to demonstrate that support for affordable housing will be readily available in a series of Foothills related meetings occurring over the next month. 

Originally created and posted on the Oregon Housing Blog.