Oregon Metro News posted an excellent series of Q+As with leaders in housing and homelessness on Oct. 25, 2016.
Israel Bayer of Street Roots, Marisa Zapata of Portland State University, Michael Buonocore and Molly Rogers of Home Forward, Martha McLennan of Northwest Housing Alternatives, Cynthia Parker, BRIDGE Housing and Meyer's Michael Parkhurst shared their insights on the fight for affordability.
Here's how Michael responded to one question:
Why is Meyer interested in the issue of affordable housing? How can it help?
There was a first five-year housing initiative and we just renewed it a few years ago. Our trustees were hearing a lot from partners in the field that housing was a really important issue and a place the Trust could make a difference. Not just grantmaking, but advancing policy and issue conversations around housing, helping advise public funders and learn from the field and disseminate best practices. Funding research is another thing we can do.
This issue of widespread concern about the expensive nature of affordable housing development bubbled up as an important issue where Meyer can weigh in as an analyst. So we put together this group of experts and spent a lot of time digging into the issues. We wanted to try to evaluate the underlying implication that it was more expensive than it needed to be and somehow there is a way to do this less expensively.
You'll find the full Oregon Metro News piece here.
Meyer Memorial Trust convened a Cost Efficiencies Work Group in 2014 to explore factors driving the cost of affordable housing development. Sixteen experts from development, construction, finance and related fields formed the Work Group and were charged with three major tasks:
Creating a clear and concise summary of key factors affecting the cost of developing affordable housing;
Identifying opportunities — whether policy and systems changes, or innovative approaches to design, construction and financing — to deliver affordable units at a lower cost; and
Advising Meyer on pilot or demonstration projects to test new approaches to affordable housing development.
So it stands to reason that to meet Oregon’s education, environmental and health goals, to truly flourish as a state, we’ve got to make inroads in Oregon’s housing crisis. For more than a decade, a combination of high housing costs, rising energy prices and stagnant household income have challenged residents to find and hold onto housing.
Oregon’s housing crisis affects people across multiple income levels: Tens of thousands of Oregonians experienced homelessness last year — 20,000 school children in Oregon schools were homeless last year. Another 5,140 Oregonians lost their homes to foreclosure, a 25-percent increase from 2013. Families of modest means are struggling to keep up with housing costs. Gentrification has pushed entire communities out of their historic neighborhoods. A shortage of affordable housing is not merely an urban phenomenon: rural communities across the state also struggle with low vacancies and climbing rents. And our neighbors in small town Oregon have a difficult time filling service jobs because newcomers can’t find housing.
At Meyer Memorial Trust, we believe Oregonians deserve to have a safe place to wake up each morning and fall asleep at night, that housing is key to opportunity, success and breaking cycles of poverty. Hardworking families should be able to afford a home and still have enough money for groceries and other basic necessities. Seniors on fixed incomes, veterans and people with disabilities should be able to live independently with dignity. Young people should have a place to become established and grow into their dreams. Children deserve an opportunity to succeed in school and life, beginning with a safe, decent place to call home. More affordable homes in Oregon give us all a foundation on which to build better lives.
In 2007, Meyer launched its Affordable Housing Initiative to address the need for more affordable housing across the state, dedicating more than $9 million to the effort. Last year, we recommitted to the Initiative, pledging another $11 million over the next five years to support affordable housing solutions from Oregon’s wild, windy coastline to its austere eastern landscape of deserts and mountains.
This January, Meyer's Trustees authorized an additional $3.75 million to the Affordable Housing Initiative, demonstrating an increased commitment to meeting the housing needs of Oregonians. These added Sustaining Portfolio Strategy funds are dedicated to strengthening the long-term health and sustainability of Oregon’s existing affordable housing stock.
Rent-restricted affordable housing portfolios provide homes for more than 30,000 low-income households across Oregon. These portfolios represent a significant public investment by local, state and national funders. If Oregon hopes to increase its stock of affordable housing, it can not afford to lose the housing we already have.
Nonprofits and public agencies throughout Oregon have been engaged in building their capacity to oversee their affordable housing portfolios, ensuring accessible, affordable and high quality housing for low income Oregonians. The Initiative’s Sustaining Portfolios Strategy advances this work with a focus on long-term planning and increasing the sustainability of these crucial housing assets. Meyer awarded 13 AHI grants in February, totaling $2.19 million. Learn more about these recent grants on our website.
The Trust’s housing investments and commitment are critical, but not enough to address the state’s housing needs. Moving the needle requires a significant collective push. We need investments in homes, strategies to acquire land for future development to prevent displacement down the road, local flexibility to achieve housing goals, low-cost debt to help finance development and policy tools that will help us create the communities we want to see.
More than 50 Oregon groups are working on a broad Housing Opportunity Agenda to remove barriers that Oregonians with low incomes face when looking for a home. It’s a good thing. Housing experts, impacted communities and nonprofit leaders have identified solutions that can meaningfully address Oregon’s housing crisis. What is needed is a statewide commitment to prioritizing housing through a meaningful infusion of resources, policy flexibility to reduce development barriers and the exploration of innovation.
We can do more than hold the line. We can ensure Oregonians across the state have a place to call home. Oregon’s very future depends on getting affordable housing right.
I'm delighted to share the good news that Theresa Deibele will be Meyer's new Housing Opportunities Portfolio Director!
While you know Theresa from her three years as a program officer at Meyer Memorial Trust, focused on Responsive Grants and PRIs, her background and skill sets make her an excellent fit for this specialized leadership position. Theresa has deep roots in housing, management, finance, community development and the law that will compliment our current AHI team and set the standard for our new portfolio directors.
As an attorney, Theresa gained significant experience in public finance and a broad understanding of Oregon's housing landscape, along with the complex regulatory framework for housing transactions. She brings deep and unique insights from her years as Chief Financial Officer at ChristieCare, where she oversaw an $8 million budget during a rocky period in the children's mental health policy and funding environment, and shepherded the organization through a merger. As supervisor of professional staff with deep content expertise, Theresa also oversaw a staff of 14, including finance, human resources, facilities and IT. And she has served as a mentor to up-and-coming professionals.
While at Meyer, she has established relationships in the statewide housing nonprofit community, including housing authorities, large multifamily housing developers, housing advocates, land trusts and organizations serving people experiencing homelessness. And over the last two years, she has managed Meyer's Habitat for Humanity program and fully engaged in Meyer Trust's PRI work.
Please join me and Candy in congratulating Theresa on her new transition!
While Meyer restructured its grantmaking last year, it wound down its two main grant programs. But the work of the Affordable Housing Initiative (AHI) continued at full steam — and it was a very busy year of work for the AHI team, which offered six Requests for Proposals (RFPs), processed 108 applications and approved 61 grants, totaling $5.42 million. In this article, we’ll share an overview of the work of the Affordable Housing Initiative over the last year.
The AHI is structured around three broad goals: to strengthen the foundation, foster innovation and secure the future, and uses multiple strategies to reach those goals.
Most AHI strategies were funded over two years. In the coming year, we do not expect AHI to issue any additional requests for proposals. However, Meyer will be releasing information soon about its new funding opportunities, which will include some affordable housing work under the broader Housing Opportunities portfolio.
STRENGTHENING THE FOUNDATION
Under this goal, we aim to preserve federally rent-subsidized stock at risk of being lost and maintain manufactured housing as a viable housing stock for many rural communities around the state. We funded four specific strategies, described below.
Sustaining Portfolios Strategy. Meyer Memorial Trust invited applications from organizations for flexible funds and technical assistance to support the development and implementation of property-specific portfolio preservation plans to help ensure the long-term sustainability of Oregon’s existing affordable housing. We received thirteen proposals; nine were ultimately funded. Each organization was awarded $150,000.
Capacity Building Technical AssistanceStrategy. Meyer received seven applications from affordable housing organizations for support with capacity building and technical assistance to strengthen rent-restricted affordable housing portfolios. This opportunity was targeted at culturally-specific organizations and organizations that have a portfolio that serves at least 50 percent under-resourced rural communities and/or communities of color.
Each organization was awarded $50,000 (except where noted):
Preservation Strategy. Meyer made one grant to the Network for Oregon Affordable Housing to further the Oregon Housing Preservation Project, a program to preserve expiring contracts for federal rent subsidies at affordable housing properties throughout the state.
Total Amount Awarded: $300,000 (over two years)
Rural Manufactured Housing Strategy. This grant opportunity was made to Community and Shelter Assistance Corporation to support the conversion of manufactured home communities into resident-owned cooperatives statewide.
Total Amount Awarded: $220,000 (over two years)
FOSTERING INNOVATION
Under this goal, Meyer strives to catalyze innovative strategies to increase availability of affordable housing and support residents’ stability and success. This year, Meyer funded three strategies under this goal.
Innovations in Affordable Housing Design, Finance and Construction Strategy. Meyer convened a panel of experts to dive deep into the cost drivers of affordable housing development. After publishing a report of the findings, we invited proposals that would test new cost-efficient approaches to providing more affordable housing in Oregon. Of the seventeen competitive proposals received, Meyer funded a total of five.
Innovative Housing - $149,138 (Multnomah County): To create a new rental housing community in East Multnomah County comprised of high-quality and energy-efficient new manufactured homes.
Northwest Housing Alternatives - $70,385 (Clackamas, Lane, Washington and Umatilla counties): To compare and evaluate strategies for lowering the cost of new rental housing construction on small-scale projects, with an emphasis on design concepts and financing strategies for rural and suburban infill.
REACH Community Development - $150,000 (Washington County): To pilot building larger, more cost-effective affordable housing projects by combining two kinds of federal housing tax credits, and by adopting design and construction strategies focused on reducing costs.
SquareOne Villages - $148,200 (Lane County): To pilot an improved version of the tiny house village model in a small community with fewer local resources, and to promote very basic, extremely low-cost housing through the development of a toolbox and training kit focused on replicating this approach in other Oregon communities.
Transition Projects, Inc. - $150,000 (Multnomah and Clatsop counties): To pilot a flexible, cost-efficient modular approach to housing development in partnership with Housing Development Center, Holst Architecture, and MODS PDX, a Portland-based manufacturer of modular housing. A second pilot is planned for the Oregon coast led by Northwest Oregon Housing Authority.
Total Amount Awarded: $667,723 (over one year)
Private Market Strategy. The Private Market RFP sought proposals to increase access by low-income renters to quality private market housing units in communities of their choice. Of the 17 proposals received, Meyer funded seven projects over a period of one to two years.
ACCESS - $80,500 (Jackson County): To develop a pilot project to use flexible rent assistance and a landlord risk mitigation fund to increase access for Jackson County families leaving residential addictions treatment with open Child Protective Services cases.
Community Action Program of East Central Oregon - $50,000 (Umatilla, Morrow, Gilliam and Wheeler counties): To develop a Housing Navigator position and setup a landlord risk mitigation fund for low-income Latino families in Umatilla, Morrow, Gilliam and Wheeler counties.
JOIN - $84,990 (Multnomah County): To co-fund, along with the Portland Housing Bureau, development of a homeless systems landlord retention and recruitment toolkit and training program for service providers.
Multifamily NW - $149,850 (Statewide): To fund the Housing Choice Educational Partnership to develop educational material and a training toolkit about fair housing laws.
Northwest Housing Alternatives - $149,510 (Clackamas County): For a pilot project aimed at increasing low-income renters' housing access in Clackamas County by using flexible funding tools to encourage private landlords to relax screening criteria.
Northwest Oregon Housing Authority - $80,000 (Clatsop, Columbia and Tillamook counties): To fund a collaborative to develop a security deposit loan pilot project aimed at providing case management for private market renters in rural Clatsop, Columbia and Tillamook counties.
Northwest Pilot Project - $130,000 (Multnomah County): For a pilot project to prevent the displacement of low-income residents from Inner Portland neighborhoods, using permanent rent assistance (S8) to help seniors [EH6] of color remain in their communities.
Total Amount Awarded: $650,000 (over two years)
Systems Alignment Strategy. Meyer invited proposals from collaboratives proposing to better align affordable housing with services that contribute to residents’ stability and success. We received 21 excellent projects looking to align housing with several different systems and funded nine projects over one to two years.
ACCESS - $24,000 (Jackson County): For piloting and documenting close collaboration between housing and other services in Southern Oregon to better meet the needs of families involved with child welfare and TANF programs.
Catholic Community Services of the Mid Willamette - $75,000 (Marion County): For the Fostering Hope Initiative, which will develop a 'Pay for Success' (PFS) system in Marion County focused on diverting children from the foster care system through strong coordination between affordable housing, education, health and other social service systems.
Columbia Gorge Health Council - $128,500 (Hood River and Wasco counties): For the Bridges to Health - Housing Pathways project, which works to better link housing and services in the Columbia Gorge through a 'Pathways' model basing payments on the achievement of specific pre-defined housing related outcomes.
Community Action Partnership of Oregon - $110,162 (Statewide, with a focus on Jackson, Klamath and Lake counties): For piloting and documenting close collaboration between housing and other services in Southern Oregon to better meet the needs of families involved with child welfare and TANF programs.
Enterprise Community Partners - $150,000 (Portland Metro): For 'Innovation through Flexible Spending Benefits,' a pilot program that uses flexible spending for housing-related expenses as a cost-effective strategy to support better
Klamath-Lake Community Action Services - $50,000 (Klamath and Lake counties): For piloting and documenting close collaboration between housing and other services in Southern Oregon to better meet the needs of families involved with child welfare and TANF programs.
REACH Community Development - $150,000 (Multnomah County): For the 'Housing with Services Pilot Project,' supporting a robust network of services to residents of affordable housing properties in Portland.
United Way of Lane County - $75,000 (Lane County): For the integration of early learning and affordable housing services in Lane County, to improve the kindergarten-readiness and family stability of affordable housing residents.
Worksystems, Inc. - $128,139 (Multnomah and Washington counties): For the 'Home to Work Collaborative Project,' which aligns housing support (and homelessness prevention) with employment resources in Multnomah and Washington counties.
Total Amount Awarded: $890,801 (over two years)
SECURING THE FUTURE
This third AHI goal aims to develop resources and policies that will expand the availability of affordable housing into the future. We funded one strategy under this goal.
Advocacy. Meyer’s advocacy RFP invited proposals from organizations engaged in community-driven public policy advocacy and community organizing to increase access to and resources for affordable housing in local jurisdictions and across Oregon. Advocacy is identified in the AHI Framework as a key strategy for advancing a broader agenda around improving access to safe, decent and affordable housing around the state. Of the 19 proposals received in this RFP, we funded ten projects that will run over one to two years.
Center for Intercultural Organizing - $80,000 (Multnomah, Washington and Jackson counties): To develop and mobilize tenants leaders in Multnomah, Washington and Jackson Counties around local and state housing policy issues that affect Oregonians, including low-income rural households, immigrants and refugees.
Community Alliance of Tenants - $88,746 (Multnomah County): To support community-based participatory research, organizing and advocacy around policy change to protect tenants from no-cause termination/eviction.
Immigrant and Refugee Community Organization-$62,000 (Portland Metro): To expand the diversity of voices in housing advocacy to address racial disparities directly related to housing and increase the availability of affordable housing for marginalized immigrant and refugee families.
Mid-Columbia Housing Authority - $35,000 (Hood River, Wasco and Sherman counties): To support a community-based housing network to address affordable housing issues in the Gorge.
Urban League of Portland - $90,000 (Statewide) To organize Oregon's African American communities to improve access to affordable, accessible, culturally-appropriate and safe housing.
Welcome Home Coalition - $80,000 (Multnomah County): To support the Welcome Home Coalition's Leadership Academy.
Total Amount Awarded: $539,060 (over one to two years)
In addition, Meyer made a grant of $138,000 (over two years) to the Housing Alliance for its Diversifying Voices program. This project has statewide reach.
ANCILLARY FUNDS
The AHI’s core investments are supported by a small pool of ancillary grant funds to help build capacity and long-term sustainability of affordable housing organizations serving under-resourced communities through technical assistance, training, operating support and strategic growth capital. In the last year, Meyer made eleven grants — mostly for technical assistance, training support and grants to support equity advancement in the housing field — that totaled $345,500 over two years.
When Meyer’s current five-year Affordable Housing Initiative launched in 2014, it felt audacious. We worked with the field to craft a refreshed framework of strategies, aimed towards innovation, systems change and the leveraging of resources.
With two dedicated and experienced program officers leading the initiative, we set out to change how Meyer advanced its affordable housing work. And the equity focus that is now central to Meyer’s work was, in several key ways, first tested through AHI’s work over the last two years.
Now it’s time to take stock of our progress to date. Kristina Smock Consulting recently completed an assessment of the first full year of AHI’s refreshed grantmaking. Evaluation highlights include:
The Preservation and Rural Housing strategies continue to achieve significant impact in preserving affordable housing across the state (p. 9-11 and p. 12-15, respectively);
The Sustaining Portfolios strategy, in partnership with technical assistance provider, Housing Development Center, produced a trove of data about the state of ten housing portfolios, including 157 properties (p. 16-18);
The Cost Efficiencies strategy convened an expert group to identify cost drivers and opportunities for reducing the cost of developing affordable housing (p. 19-22);
While Oregon wrestles with a historically low vacancy rate, the Private Market strategy helped strengthen understandings of HB-2639 Housing Choice Voucher reform law, illuminated the challenges faced by low-income and underserved populations, and strengthened relationships (p. 23-27); AHI also learned promising strategies that may flourish in a market with normal vacancy rates;
Grants made under the Advocacy strategy contributed to momentum around key local housing priorities, strengthened and diversified state-level engagement, supported 2015 legislative wins and set the stage for a robust 2016 legislative agenda (p. 31-36);
All of the Requests For Proposals were framed with an equity lens and three-quarters of the AHI grants were awarded to projects and organizations that fulfilled at least one of the four AHI equity objectives (p. 39-47);
Meyer’s intention around reaching all regions of the state was largely achieved, with a significant amount of grants outside the urban Willamette Valley (p. 43);
Goals to reach projects or organizations that served a majority people of color showed mixed success; of all the year one projects funded, 31% had projects that served a majority of people of color and 37% were for organizations that serve a majority of people of color (p. 44);
Meyer faces challenges in implementing data collection and gathering outcomes on equity indicators (p. 40-41) and we have ample room for improvement; and
Meyer continues to refine our AHI strategies, based on data and feedback from the field. We worked to add the Sustaining Portfolios strategy (p. 16) and modified the advocacy strategy after year one to be both wider in scope, with deeper investments over 1-2 years (p. 36).
The AHI Year One Evaluation is a sign Meyer remains committed to learning, in all forms. We built a convening structure into the AHI that facilitates sharing between grantees, field practitioners and Meyer. We continue to convene multi-sector workgroups on tough issues and will spread the findings of those groups. In the coming year, our AHI program officers will share blog posts about each of the strategies, highlighting both challenges and successes. And we know that dedicated time for learning and reflection, coupled with annual evaluations from an outside consultant, are critical to successful execution of the Initiative.
It’s clear that Meyer can’t do this work alone; we rely every day on housing developers, providers, advocates, community members and funders to carry out the vision that every Oregonian has a decent, safe and affordable place to call home.
We welcome your feedback on this Year One Evaluation of the AHI, and look forward to learning together in the coming years.
We continue to hear many good questions from our partners, such as:
How many funding opportunities will you have this year?
In 2016, there is one major funding call across the three active portfolios: Housing Opportunities, Healthy Environment and Building Community. Each has a slightly staggered deadline, so you will want to think through which portfolio area and goal is the best fit and apply by that deadline. Housing Opportunities, for example, has the first deadline for inquiry applications, on Monday, May 9th at 5pm. Deadlines for the other portfolios will follow.
I have an existing grant with Meyer. May I still apply?
Absolutely.
How much should I apply for?
That is a great question without a simple answer. We can say that Meyer is rarely the first funder or only funder of a project. We look for projects that leverage other resources.
Each portfolio gives ranges for the types of requests that it will be accepting. In general, we expect to make a few grants at the very high end of the range. Those projects will tend to be bigger, more complex, and may involve several organizations working collaboratively. We'll look at the grant request relative to the full budget for the project and the organization, and how much of an organization's budget Meyer would support if it has multiple grants.
No single factor determines the answer. So, consider these points and try to craft a request that makes sense within the ranges described in each portfolio. See more answers to questions we've heard on our FAQs page. And, finally, reach out to the portfolio staff or questions [at] mmt.org (questions[at]mmt[dot]org) if you want to talk through a grant request size.
Don't forget: the deadline for Housing Opportunities funding is 5 p.m., Monday, May 9th.
