A new housing opportunity is opening up for people who’ve been pushed out of North and Northeast Portland over the years due to urban renewal and displacement, as well as rising rents.
On Thursday, local elected leaders from Metro and the city of Portland will join other project partners in celebration at the naming dedication and opening of the Dr. Darrell Millner Building. Named for the former department chair of Black Studies at Portland State University and local expert on the history of Black Americans in the West, the new affordable housing complex in the Overlook neighborhood is giving preference to people with historical ties to the area as it rents out 63 affordable homes.
That’s because the building is part of the Alberta Alive series of projects, and is subject to Portland’s N/NE Preference Policy, which aims to address the harmful impacts of urban renewal, eminent domain and historical inequitable housing practices in the North and Northeast Portland community. Self Enhancement, Inc. is providing culturally responsive resident services at the building.
The project was funded through a mix of public and private funding, including $9.2 million from the voter-approved Metro affordable housing bond, leveraged by the city of Portland. There are over 2,000 new, Metro bond-funded affordable homes either open or in production across the city.
“Like so many other American cities, Portland has a dark history of housing discrimination, and ‘urban renewal,’ which displaced hundreds of families out of North and Northeast Portland – most of them Black,” Portland City Commissioner Carmen Rubio said. “As an essential piece of our N/NE Housing Strategy, the Dr. Darrell Millner Building will help to address these historic wrongs and restore the thriving community that once called this neighborhood home.”
“Here in the Overlook neighborhood, home prices have nearly doubled since 2010,” Metro Councilor Mary Nolan said. “But thanks in part to the voter-passed Metro affordable housing bond, projects like the Dr. Darrell Millner Building are helping Black families stay rooted in vibrant, historically Black neighborhoods, allowing them to thrive and reclaim their community.”
Source: City of Portland