Overloaded or Underserved? Updated Public Housing Location Maps Tell the Story

On behalf of the Metro/Oregon Public Housing Location Maps team at Portland Sate University I am proud to announce a significant upgrade to the Metro/Oregon Public Housing Location Maps, the first of its kind in Oregon and the United States of America showing the types, numbers, percentages and locations of Public Housing Units in multiple public jurisdictions throughout Oregon.

Click on the "Portland Metro Area Public Housing" tab in the image below, for interactive map.

Is your congressional district, state legislative senate district, state legislative house district, county/city/neighborhood overloaded or underserved with Public Housing?

The Metro/Oregon Public Housing Location Maps will help give you an answer. The purpose of this map is to provide a common touchstone of Public Housing Location Data. Elected officials and all Oregonians can use these maps to discuss, debate and decide on the best, reasoned, defensible, equitable policy decisions related to Public Housing locations in Oregon.

• Congressional district with the highest percentage of Public Housing Units: District 3, Earl Blumenauer - 12.04%
• Congressional district with the lowest percentage of Public Housing Units: District 5, Kurt Schrader - 5.12%

Credible data now available to officials, the public

We can not have a credible, fact based public debate with defensible arguments for or against any Public Housing Policy without credible data. Now we Oregonians, all of us, have it. In fact, it gets better than that. We also have easy to understand interactive maps that visually tell us the story of Public Housing locations within multiple level political and governmental jurisdictions in our Oregon.

The Oregon Housing and Community Services department and other county housing authorities have identified approximately 110,688 Public Housing households connected to Public Housing Authorities and related agencies in the state of Oregon. All of these households meet the following criteria: Public Housing i.e. a class of housing defined as, means test (less than or equal to 80% MFI) + government subsidy (any government any type) + rental agreement.

There is no publicly available evidence that any of these 110,688 Public Housing households are currently occupied by households that meet the following criteria: Affordable Housing is a mathematical construct defined as, rent/mortgage + insurance + taxes + utilities is less than or equal to 30% of household income.

Research has revealed that most Public Housing is not Affordable Housing. 

Government is in the Public Housing business not the Affordable Housing business.

Metro/Oregon Public Housing Location Maps enable equity, parity, NIMBY debate

Equity. Parity. NIMBY (not in my back yard). These terms can and should be considered with every decision to spend public funds on Public Housing throughout Oregon. Where Public Housing is located has not been a consideration in the placement of Public Housing because there was no authoritative source that all parties could use as a common factual basis. The Metro/Oregon Public Housing Location Maps will make these conversations and decisions possible.

We hope that after examining the Metro/Oregon Public Housing Location Maps and the included data files you will be motivated to ask yourself and your elected officials questions like the following:

1. Which policy is more dominant among and within Oregon counties, Equitable Distribution of Public Housing OR Targeted, UNLIMITED neighborhood/city/county/legislative district concentration of Public Housing?
2. Do you see parity of Public Housing locations among Oregon’s counties, the Metro Regional Government counties and Multnomah, Washington and Clackamas county neighborhoods, Oregon’s legislative and congressional districts?
3. How do we explain/justify the percentage range of Public Housing units to total housing units within Multnomah county neighborhoods from zero to 100%?
4. How do we explain/justify the percentage range of Public Housing units to total housing units within Metro’s three counties from 3.45% to 11.44%?
5. How do we explain/justify the remarkable number of neighborhoods under the Metro regional government’s Public Housing Policy Jurisdiction, i.e. 119, that have ZERO public housing units?
6. How do we explain/justify the percentage range of Public Housing units to total housing units within all Oregon counties from 0.11% to 11.44%?
7. How do we explain/justify the percentage range of Public Housing units to total housing units among all House districts from 1.37% to 24.92%?
8. How do we explain/justify the percentage range of Public Housing units to total housing units within all Senate districts from 3.31% to 16.74%?

Wildfires, pandemic and eviction repercussions coupled with huge increases in funding for Public Housing from all government levels must put Public Housing location decision making high up on many Oregon government agendas. Their location decisions can and will have a dramatic effect on their constituencies. These debates and decisions must all begin with the question: Is your congressional district, state legislative senate district, state legislative house district, county/city/neighborhood overloaded or underserved with Public Housing?

View maps and learn more at https://www.goodgrowthnw.org/maps.

The Metro/Oregon Public Housing Location Maps Team

• Claire Brumbaugh-Smith -  Portland State University Masters Degree Program, Project Primary GIS Analyst and CartographerTaylor
• Allen - Portland State University graduate, Former Project Primary GIS Analyst and Cartographer
• Richard Ellmyer - Portland State University Senior Adult Learner, Project Champion and Data Wrangler 
• Randy Morris - Community GIS Project Leader Population Research Center Portland State University, Project Coordinator