An Assessment of the Impact of Public Housing on the Low Income Elderly Residents of the Burnside Community

This study will be a look at housing for Portland\u27s Burnside population with special emphasis on the Foster hotel public housing project. Before housing or any other aspect of Burnside can be intelligently discussed, it is important to have a realistic historical and contemporary understanding of the Burnside community. The second chapter of this study is designed to provide that understanding. The third chapter surveys the ways that other American cities have dealt with their skid row communities. Cities roughly the same size as Portland were chosen. Their efforts will be compared to Portland\u27s plans for and actions toward its Burnside area -- the subject of Chapter IV. In this chapter, a critical analysis of the social policy recommendations made by the Human Resources Bureau for the downtown urban renewal area is offered as this is the official public social policy for the area. The next chapter of this study presents a survey done of the roster hotel to determine whether or not it is meeting the needs of the community. When the roster was initially planned, certain promises were made about who would be housed there and how it would serve Burnside. The questionnaire given to the Foster residents was designed to see if those promises were kept and to gauge the overall satisfaction the residents have with the hotel. It is hoped that with the background material provided in the first chapter of this study, a context will be established within which the reader can understand housing as it relates to this community