SE Updates

By Midge Pierce

Family Housing Relief Coming

Some one hundred and eighty low-income families should get needed affordable housing in a five-story, Home Forward development that could break ground next year.

At a recent unveiling, Creston-Kenilworth residents were largely receptive to the project on a former strip club site at SE 30th and Powell.

Children’s safety on busy Powell was a major concern. Insufficient parking was another. The complex, served by transit, plans twenty-two parking spots even though the City no longer requires parking.

Suggestions were made to “soften the monolithic” structure that will set precedent for future development along the highway.

Homeless Issue Grows

Put three Portlanders together and one is likely to say they’re considering leaving town because of the homeless epidemic. The City begs patience and tolerance. Neighborhoods undertake clean-ups and safety patrols. A group called Harbor of Hope plans to truck portable showers to homeless camps.

Officials claim progress in getting the needy off the streets. Multnomah County Commission Chair Deborah Kafoury says shelter beds have doubled and 6,000 households have moved into housing.

Yet, mental health care, already grossly inadequate, is at risk of state budget cuts.

Despite caring hearts and shelter developments (including one at SE and Powell that has attracted alleged drug use and controversy), complaints grow that Portland is buried in trash, needles and crime. Rightly or wrongly, fingers point to homelessness.

 

SE Updates

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