[2oh1]

We want more development, but we want Portlanders to be able to afford to live in what gets built. That word I used, Portlanders, is a tricky one. I live in a building downtown where rent for vacant units has risen from around $1,000 to around $1500 in the last 5 years. That's for a 1br that doesn't really have a bedroom (shotgun loft). That's! Nuts! And I've noticed that more and more of my neighbors are new out of state transplants and wealthy foreign students. I worry about Portlanders being priced out of Portland. But what's the solution? I have no idea. Even dumpy buildings downtown and in nearby neighborhoods are getting some crazy high rent.

The theory that new construction will bring down rent at older buildings no longer holds true in many neighborhoods here because that theory is based on the idea that people in the neighborhood will want to live in the new buildings, so the older buildings will be less desirable. But as the new construction brings new restaurants, pubs, shops and retail, it brings a new buzz that makes the overall neighborhood more desirable, thus bringing more people to the neighborhood, which drives up prices across the board. The new construction apartments and condos may come with crazy high prices to live there, but older buildings see substantial price increases too. All you have to do is look at inner SE to see what I mean. That neighborhood used to be cheap. New buildings are coming, but rents are already skyrocketing at the older buildings.

I don't know what the solution is, but I really want the city to do more wheeling and dealing to get affordable housing built. Wasn't there a thread a few months ago about how Seattle is doing a better job of giving incentives to developers in order to get affordable housing built? Years ago, Portland was doing more of that.