You Got Fight

For Your Right

To Return

 

Pathway 1000: A Bold New Plan for African American Homeownership

“Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will”. 

Frederick Douglass

This famous quote by Frederick Douglass represents the same energy and relentless determination that expresses itself through the leadership style of Maxine Fitzpatrick@mfitzpatrick, award-winning Executive Director and CEO of Portland Community Reinvestment Initiatives, Inc. (PCRI). Selected in 1993 to lead the newly formed Affordable Housing Community Development Corporation in North and Northeast Portland, Fitzpatrick’s fiery and persistent advocacy over more than two decades has been forged and honed by her painful awareness of the inordinate number of African-Americans historically on the losing end of Portland’s ongoing housing crisis and dwindling availability of affordable housing options.

 

“We cannot undo the harms done, but rather, must focus on restoring housing justice for those who were harmed@justice,” stated Fitzpatrick i. “One of PRI's goals is to support and encourage displaced African-Americans by focusing on the future@future.”

 

The future for which Fitzpatrick and PCRI work relentlessly, flies in the face of a dark and tumultuous history of corruption, embedded, institutionalized racism within and ongoing economic disparities that continue to result in devastating consequences, up to and including displacement.

 

Seeking to stanch and reverse involuntary displacement of long term residents previously forced to move from N/NE Portland and to come to the immediate aid of current residents at risk of displacement, PCRI launched the Pathway 1000, a Home Ownership Equity Displacement Mitigation Policy Recommendation in mid-2015 that was recently ratified as a strategic implementation plan by the City of Portland. Targeting residents who were forced to relocate due to the unholy trinity of gentrification, housing market fraud and soaring property costs, Pathway 1000 seeks to proactively address displacement and reclaim the historic heart and soul of Portland’s African-American community over the next decade, through the development of 1,000 new affordable homes, 800 of which are slated for ownership.

 

This development strategy is intended to spur prosperity for African-Americans and others displaced from North and Northeast Portland through education, the creation of hundreds of living-wage construction jobs and through ancillary business growth that feeds the pipeline of wealth generation over the project’s 10-year cycle@10k. Quarterly homeownership education forums are offered to individuals and families interested in learning about homeownership opportunities, while industry professionals are encouraged to attend to learn more about how their organization or business can participate in the initiative.

 

“After NE Portland gentrified, did you ever think you would own a home that would be affordable for your family? Or that your family could remain in or return to neighborhoods you called home for so long?,” Fitzpatrick asked. “PCRI believes you deserve that opportunity – if you want it. You have a right to the neighborhood where you grew up, where your parents grew up and where your kids grew up. Yes, there are many, many new people living in NE Portland – however, you lived here first and you should be able to remain or return here.”

 

This “right to return” is a battle cry that was issued forth in 2014 when  multi-billion dollar land development barrons, Majestic Realty, entered into negotiations with the city’s urban-renewal agency, Portland Development Commission, to acquire land in the Albina District at a steep discount. PRCI, Portland African American Leadership Forum@paalf (PAALF) and other outraged community members and businesses protested the development, arguing that this was another glaring example of out of control gentrification and an unconscionable attempt to profit from the displacement of African-Americans in the city. Pathway 1000 was born from this debacle, arguing that the money spent on incentivizing out of state developers was better spent on affordable housing, helping locals stay in the neighborhood and attracting the return of those displaced residents.

 

After years of uphill struggle, Fitzpatrick and PCRI’s efforts have finally begun to pay off. On November 1st, 2017, Portland City Council@planpcc adopted a policy and signed an agreement with Metro to begin accepting funds to help with implementation for the project. Mayor Ted Wheeler added his somber perspective on Portland’s well documented, damaging past urban renewal practices, particularly with regard to the African American community.  “We eliminated several generations of prosperity along the way,” Wheeler acknowledged. “We talk about economic disparity as somehow unrelated to the housing piece. It is not unrelated to the housing piece, the housing piece is the cornerstone to the prosperity equation and the intergenerational wealth piece. Connecting youth to a consistent educational experience, connecting adults to consistent employment opportunities, connecting families to community institutions that struggle if there is displacement is important. This is a bold plan that intersects all of these different policy conversations,” Wheeler concluded.

 

PCRI continues to produce an inspirational model worthy of exposure to other struggling municipalities seeking to address displacement and generational poverty. Families that have successfully completed the PCRI process are often the first in their families to own their own homes@HOC and to start building the assets that accomplish more than any other investment towards moving permanently out of poverty. When such a family succeeds, they also become a beacon for others to break the chains and cycles that prevent them from achieving their highest potential.

 

“If you’re talking about stabilizing families, homeownership and business development are more effective in the poverty elimination process than providing rental housing into perpetuity,” Fitzpatrick stated passionately. “When we think about what it costs for the government to support a family subsisting in poverty, versus what it would cost the government to help elevate a family up and out of these conditions, it only makes sense to support the most effective, cost efficient options that provide equal and maximum opportunities that are proven to end the cycles of chronic poverty,” she concluded.

 

For more information on how PCRI can provide advocacy, support and home ownership opportunities, go to www.pathway1000.org or call (503) 288-2923  or

drop by their offices located at 6329 NE MLK Blvd. Portland, OR 97211-3029