Barriers to Creating and Accessing Affordable Housing in Portland, Oregon

79 pagesPortland, similarly to the rest of the country, is experiencing a housing crisis. Rising rents, low housing stocks and the lingering effects of the COVID-19 pandemic have combined to produce record numbers of people experiencing housing insecurity, eviction, and homelessness. While new funding has recently been approved in response to this crisis, how that money is spent and used will determine its success. Through conversations with architects, service providers, and people experiencing housing insecurity and homelessness, this study aims to ground existing housing data in people's real-world experiences. Housing insecurity is experienced differently by everyone. Because of the deep intersections houselessness has with disability, mental health, addiction and other factors, it is impossible to define a single path either out of or into housing. However, the struggles of Portland's current housing situation can be broadly characterized into two groups: An inability to prevent people who are housed from losing their homes, and a failure to rapidly rehouse and support those who have. What follows are the some of the ways people experience Portland’s housing systems, and the barriers they face to becoming housed