Metro Releases a Much-Anticipated Roster of Low-Income Apartment Construction

The average Metro subsidy per unit is about $113,000.

hardhat Hardhat work in Portland. (Wesley Lapointe)

Release the cranes!

On Oct. 12, the Portland Housing Bureau announced nine new affordable housing projects that the city has recommended for funding from Metro’s 2018 housing bond. It’s a giant step forward for a city mired in a shortage of affordable housing—the new projects will add 905 new units.

The average Metro subsidy per unit is about $113,000. That’s slightly higher than the $96,000 average subsidy for earlier projects Metro has helped fund. But construction costs are higher in Portland than in Washington and Clackamas counties, and those costs overall have spiked during the pandemic.

Residents in Washington, Multnomah and Clackamas counties approved the $653 million bond in November 2018. Of that total, $211 million is available for affordable housing within Portland city limits, with a goal of building 1,475 new units.

The bureau chose the projects from 24 applications that developers submitted.

The city is requesting a total of $107 million from Metro for the nine projects. Metro’s share of each project could range from as low as 7% of the total cost to as high as 47%. As with other affordable housing projects, the developers will have to find sources of private capital to cover the balance.

The projected total cost of all nine projects is $390 million.

Metro expects to announce whether the projects are approved in about a month. “We make sure that the projects are feasible,” says Christensen, “and if they actually look like projects that can be built.”

The projects range in size from 58 units to 201 units, and all will be located east of the Willamette River.

Here’s a breakdown of the locations, and Metro’s public investment in each project.

(Brian)
(Brian )

Correction: This story originally said Metro has 2,100 projects in its pipeline. It’s actually 2,100 units. The story also inaccurately said the nine projects were the city’s first use of the Metro bond money. WW regrets the errors.

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