Dozens of Portland trailer parks closed in the real estate bubble of the early 2000s, but in 2016, a group of tenants, the Housing Bureau, and an anti-displacement coalition worked to save one of the city's last places for very low-income renters.
"The Portland Housing Bureau has provided a $1.3 million loan to help preserve a Northeast Portland mobile home park, the Oak Leaf, that was threatened by redevelopment," reports Amelia Templeton. "It’s the first time the Housing Bureau has stepped in to help preserve a mobile home park."
The action to save the Oak Leaf is the most recent in a series of actions by the Housing Bureau to save housing affordable to those with very low incomes. Oak Leaf, for instance, rents for under $500 a month and "has spaces for 35 mobile homes and houses a number of seniors, veterans and people with disabilities," according to Templeton.
Previous coverage by Templeton from June describes the grassroots campaign by Oak Leaf residents to purchase the property in response to a plan by the landlord to sell the property to a developer. The original plan fell apart, but according to his month's article, "the coalition Living Cully worked with Oak Leaf residents to launch a campaign to make a competing offer on the land and save the park."
FULL STORY: Portland Steps In To Save Oak Leaf Mobile Home Park From Redevelopment
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