Arone Andu moved to Portland from Seattle about three years ago, when he took a job working as an AmeriCorps teacher. He considered renting his own apartment, but he couldn’t find anything that fit his budget. So he settled for getting roommates. Andu teaches social studies at a high school since completing his AmeriCorps program. But he still has to juggle multiple jobs to afford his shared apartment.
Metro: What were you looking for in an apartment and neighborhood when you moved to Portland?
"It was still hard to find an affordable place, even though I was working all these different positions. That’s why I’m sharing instead of having my own one-bedroom apartment."
Arone: I wanted it to be in a friendly neighborhood. I wanted it to be a vibrant area that’s… walking distance to a store or to a gym or community center. And I wanted it to be close to the area where I work. I definitely wanted a place for myself. Money was definitely the deciding factor. When I first moved over here, I did Americorps. And so you know the money wasn't a lot. But at the same time the housing here was so expensive that even if I had a regular job at the time, there was no way I could find an apartment because everything I looked at was $1,500 at least. I got a full-time position teaching social studies and with that I got a pay increase. I began to also work at boys and girls club and to coach track and field in order to supplement my income. And in my free time I got certified to drive for Lyft once I purchased my car. And so I began to look for a better live in place. And it was still hard to find an affordable place, even though I was working all these different positions. That’s why I’m sharing instead of having my own one-bedroom apartment.
Metro: What’s working well about where you live?
Arone: I do like that it’s close to my job. I'm a high school teacher. I'm a coach. I'm a mentor. And so it's so nice to be able to live in the community that I serve because I'm easily accessible to a lot of my youth, especially to kids who come from single-parent homes or might be dealing with the system in a way or another. My job is not just a 9-to-5. I also like the fact that there are a lot of parks nearby. A lot of the schools where I coach are nearby. And so my commute is not that tough. There's a community center nearby. There are a couple of basketball courts and gyms. And so that makes it more of a friendly neighborhood. There is a lot of diversity in this neighborhood and that's what I really like about it, too.
Metro: What’s been the payoff of finding a place to live in the area where you work?
"When you're able to live in a community that you serve, you are able to get more opportunities because you are exposed more [to opportunities] versus having to spend an hour and a half to two hours in traffic."
Arone: When you're able to live in a community that you serve, you are able to get more opportunities because you are exposed more versus having to spend an hour and a half to two hours in traffic. That’s time that could be used towards something productive. Why I got a full-time job teaching after finishing my Americorp program was due to the simple fact that I made great friendships in the community where I work. I have other friends who connected me to my living situation now. And to me that's a benefit of being able to live in this neighborhood. So when the property value goes up here I don't know how I would live in any other neighborhood because this is where I see being my home. This neighborhood is home for me.
Metro: How do you anticipate your housing needs changing in the future?
Arone: I would love to start a family, own a home. That's the dream. I know that's still down the line. I’ve got to line up a couple of more things: seek more opportunities to further my career and learn more about what it means to buy a home. I want to understand property taxes and mortgage and financing and all of those things.
I'm from an immigrant family. My family bought their house in 2007 right before the market collapsed. And so when that happened the property value tanked. And so we had to do everything as a family to keep the house. Seeing what my dad went through even just to refinance or to understand the loans and all of that made me think, “Maybe I'm not ready to do all of that yet; maybe I should learn as much as I can about buying a home first.” And so one of the things that I decided to do was to just focus on my career and my education for now.
Metro: What do you want decisionmakers to know about you and people like you?
"For somebody who's trying to make an honest living, finding a place to stay should not be this hard and affording rent should not be that hard either."
One thing I would like to see is definitely more affordable housing, more support [and] some regulation when it comes to landlords. I think that development can be done in a more respectful, equitable way. I think that decision makers need to be more informed and not just take what they hear from landlords and housing developers. Go to schools, go to families’ houses and knock on doors. It takes time but it's more intentional because you actually hear people’s experiences.
Think about an actual plan a feasible plan that could maybe balance the playing field a little bit more for people like me, a young professional. I went to school and I work at least six days out of the week. For somebody who's trying to make an honest living, finding a place to stay should not be this hard and affording rent should not be that hard either. I think everybody deserves a home, a roof over their head.