Three years ago, Quinhong Chen, her husband and two children rented a two-bedroom apartment in Jade District for about $680. Each year, the rent kept going up, prompting her and her husband to work more hours to cover the increasing rent and other basic necessities.
Wanna Lei (left), a community organizer with APANO, helped Quinhong Chen (center) fill out her application for a two-bedroom apartment at Orchards of 82nd, where Chen recently moved in with her two sons.
“I tried looking for higher paying jobs, but it’s really difficult for new immigrants because of the language barrier,” Chen said through an interpreter, adding that she moved to Portland from China 10 years ago. “We have hard times finding higher pay and better jobs.”
Then Chen and her husband separated. The rent – nearly $1,200 – was too much for her to cover on her own. To save money, she moved into a $1,000 two-bedroom apartment in December 2018. But the cheaper rent was a trade-off. The apartment was moldy; the bathtub didn’t drain; the toilet consistently clogged; and the heater in her son’s bedroom was broken.
“We experienced the whole winter with no heat in my son’s bedroom,” Chen said. “That was a really hard time… I heard about some people living in brand new apartments, affordable housing. I really wanted to find one like that.”
Throughout her time living in the Jade District, Chen attended community events hosted by the nonprofit Asian Pacific American Network of Oregon and befriended staff. They told her about a new affordable housing building, Orchards of 82nd, which would soon open at the site of an old furniture store at the corner of Southeast 82nd Avenue and Division Street.
APANO helped her apply for a two-bedroom apartment and wrote a preference letter to support her application. She needed it. Within days of the rental applications opening, more than 300 families applied for these one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments.
“My quality of life is better [since moving into Orchards],” Chen said. “My sons feel really happy living here. I am feeling more peaceful… And I feel I have more time to make better food – more delicious food for my children.”
Chen felt fortunate to get selected. She’s one of 47 families earning between 30 and 60 percent of the local median income who moved into Orchards beginning in February. The waiting list is now closed at nearly 400.
“You can see the project is really meeting a huge need,” said Nick Sauvie, executive director of ROSE Community Development Corporation, a nonprofit serving Southeast Portland that owns and operates the apartments.
Metro bought the property in 2016 to reserve this land for affordable housing. The $16.5-million project is managed by Metro’s Transit-Oriented Development Program, which often partners with the private sector to build more places where people can live and work near transit. In recent years, the program has evolved to better support affordable housing construction where it’s needed most.
ROSE partnered with different nonprofits, such as APANO and the Black Parent Initiative, and social service agencies to market these apartments to families in need. The nonprofit developer reserved several apartments for families enrolled in the Baby Booster Initiative, which aims to improve the health of babies and families with young children.
“We did that based on research about how important the first [one] thousand days of development are for children,” Sauvie said.
Nearly half of the families who moved into Orchards are enrolled in this program.
TriMet’s first high-capacity bus service, the Division Transit Project, will serve this area with a station near 82nd Avenue and Division Street starting in 2022.
Amanda Acevedo, one of Orchard’s new tenants, finds the apartment’s close proximity to existing transit services convenient. “I can just go downstairs and take the bus to school and not have to worry about [parking],” Acevedo said.
Acevedo lived with her parents, because she struggled to find an affordable place to rent. She’s delighted to live in a “beautiful” apartment building, where she feels safe. Eventually, she wants to own a house.
“This [affordable apartment] is helping me push forward and get to where I need to be,” she said.
The private market often takes note of new investments in historically underinvested neighborhoods. Property values and rents go up, often pricing out people who need affordable rents and close access to transit.
“This [new] affordable housing is just so critical for us to have that opportunity to help stabilize the neighborhood,” said Duncan Hwang, APANO's associate director.
Hwang is happy Metro thought ahead about investing in this property for affordable housing, so that people could benefit from living close to quality transit.
“This project is a real community win,” Hwang said. “It's a good example of public dollars being well spent,” with support from the private sector.
The building features a private community courtyard and playground, and sheltered parking spots for cars and bikes. The first floor of the building houses APANO’s office headquarters and a community hub for cultural events, social services and job training programs.
For about two years, APANO leased the vacant furniture store from Metro as a test site for a community space that hosted poetry slams, theater performances and other events. APANO reports hosting 25,000 people a year, illustrating the demand for a neighborhood gathering space in addition to affordable housing.
A rendering of the plaza at Orchards of 82nd. Courtesy of SERA Architects.
That corner of the block looked barren with no trees and narrow, eroded sidewalks. Young trees now line wider sidewalks. A highlight of the new building is a street-facing community plaza that will not only support the annual Jade International Night Market, but also offer “a respite place for people to stop… and get some shade,” either from the sun or rain, said Gauri Rajbaidya, an architect with SERA Architects.
The firm oversaw the building’s design with input from people who live in the area and community partners.
The community engagement that Metro asked SERA Architects to do for this project was “a really powerful underpinning to drive what makes this design so rich,” said Travis Dang, an architect with the firm.
“This area can be kind of overlooked and neglected and that's why this project is so exciting.”
“My quality of life is better [since moving into Orchards],” Chen said. “My sons feel really happy living here. I am feeling more peaceful… And I feel I have more time to make better food – more delicious food for my children.”
Construction is underway for more new affordable homes across greater Portland. On April 17, Northwest Housing Alternatives broke ground for a four-story building that will have nearly 160 new affordable homes in the Gateway neighborhood.
Metro’s TOD grant program also supports this project, which is near the Gateway Transit Center with access to the MAX and multiple bus lines.
As greater Portland continues to grow and develop, Hwang hopes other agencies will follow Metro’s lead. “I think a lot of these properties are going to get snatched up for private development unless our housing bureaus are able to act more quickly,” he said.
Hwang thinks the affordable housing bond measure that voters approved in November will give housing bureaus the resources needed to partner with developers to build more affordable housing.
The ribbon-cutting ceremony for Orchards of 82nd is scheduled for 5 to 7 p.m. April 25 at 8118 SE Division St., Portland.
On April 27, REACH Community Development also celebrates the grand opening of 72Foster, a four-story building with 101 affordable apartments and nearly 10,000 square feet of ground floor commercial space.
“Over the past few years, Metro’s TOD program has significantly increased its role in supporting affordable housing,” said Jon Williams, a Metro project planner. “With the recent passage of the Regional Affordable Housing Bond, Metro and its partners are excited to be able to do even more to create housing opportunity where it can most benefit people.”