Fall/Winter 2006: On Principle

Sidebar: Affordable Housing in the Pearl

During the 1990s, city officials found themselves in a unique position. Developers were just beginning to build and renovate in a dilapidated warehouse area just north of downtown, and the largest property owner in the neighborhood, Hoyt Street Properties, was willing to negotiate with the city on a master plan. Planners recognized that the district, called "the Pearl," held potential, not just for entrepreneurial developers looking to make a buck, but for all types of Portlanders, regardless of income level, who could benefit from living in a diverse, vibrant, centrally located neighborhood with ready access to public transportation, art, and culture.

In 1997, the city cut a deal with Hoyt Street Properties: in exchange for tearing down the Lovejoy Street Ramp, installing and maintaining an electric streetcar, and making other infrastructure improvements, Hoyt Street Properties agreed to build both high-density and affordable housing. At the time, planners and developers had no idea that a decade later property values in the Pearl would skyrocket (a few condos in the Pearl recently sold for $3 million each). Today, in the well-heeled, fourteen-by-eight-block area, approximately six hundred apartments in four buildings house Portlanders who earn just fractions of the city's Median Family Income (MFI) for their household size ($47,550 for one person and $54,300 for two people in Portland in 2005).

All types of Pearl District residents mingle in public spaces, a byproduct of affordable housing that city planners and low-income housing advocates say keep wealthy communities from becoming "gated." For Nancy Dunckleman, who lives with her teenaged daughter in the Pearl Court apartments, a 200-unit building reserved for households earning up to 60 percent of the MFI, she appreciates being able to interact with people who wouldn't normally cross her path except through the affordable-housing conditions of the Pearl District. "In our neighborhood park, I talk to blind people, wealthy executives from Nike, artists, and immigrants on a regular basis," Dunckelman says. "When you're walking your dog, it doesn't matter if you're a CEO or if you just spent your last food stamp."

--Lucy Burningham

Published in the Fall/Winter 2006 issue of Oregon Humanities.

© 2006 Oregon Council for the Humanities