On a warm and sunny late spring day, the Native American Youth and Family Center welcomed guests to celebrate Tistilal Village. This new affordable apartment community — located in North Portland’s Portsmouth neighborhood — is designed to support Native American families, through intentional design and culturally specific resident services. Metro’s affordable housing bond contributed $4.6 million to the project’s construction costs.
Tistilal Village is home to 58 households, with a mix of studio, one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments. Twenty-four of these homes are considered “deeply affordable,” and are reserved households with incomes at or below 30% of the area median income ($37,250 for a family of four). The remaining apartments are designated for households with incomes between 31-50% AMI.
Sixteen apartments at Tistilal Village provide permanent supportive housing for households who have experienced homelessness and live with a disability. Residents of PSH pay a third of their income for rent and utilities and have access to on-site services that support wellbeing. Due to centuries of racist policies and practices, Native American people are significantly overrepresented in the population of people experiencing homelessness.
According to NAYA, Tistilal Village “advances the vision of Native housing leaders and the community members that came before us.” The design features warm, natural colors and building materials, native plantings, a play area for children, murals by Native artists, and ample space for people to gather.
All apartments include high efficiency air conditioning, made possible by Metro bond funds set aside for cooling features, to address the effects of climate change in the region. The development also received a $250,000 grant from Metro’s transit-oriented development fund. The number 75 bus line stops right in front of the building on Lombard Boulevard and connects to the MAX yellow line several miles away.
The complex is a redevelopment of a 1970’s property NAYA acquired in 2008 from another organization that serves Native communities. At the time, the building needed significant and costly repairs.
After much consideration and dialogue, NAYA decided to completely replace the building and add 24 additional homes in the process. They developed a plan for residents to temporarily relocate, with financial support, and have the option to return upon completion of the new building. Eleven of those 34 original households now live at Tistilal Village, while two used their relocation assistance stipend to purchase homes.
Tistilal Village was NAYA’s first project serving as the lead developer, and the organization is in the planning process for another affordable apartment community where they will serve in the same role. Colas Construction is a partner for both.
To open the celebration, Cowlitz elder and spiritual leader Tanna Engdahl offered a blessing for the new community. Engdahl spoke of the ancient lands the development sits on, and the Indian communities that lived on, and continue to live on them. She evoked the building’s namesake, Tistilal, the “mystical winged warrior that was the guardian spirit of many, who commanded the skies, lighting, thunder, rain and rebirth of the earth.”
“How can we not feel the joy all around us as the ancestors join us in this celebration?” she asked. “On the wings of the thunderbird, we lift each other in celebration.”
Since voters first passed the Metro housing bond in 2018, funds have been used to create over 2,500 completed homes across greater Portland, with 2,770 more on the way.