Problem

While there has been a deep and rich history of housing organizing and policy advocacy, our present-day requires we join together to conduct the kind of honoring, respectful, and Black-centered tools, research, and data that produce results. Long before the COVID-19 pandemic laid bare the human cost of housing injustice in the United States, access to housing has been one of the dominant drivers of race and gender inequity in this country. Without the insights and data analysis to fortify new policies and approaches, housing inequality can continue.

Solution

Known as a trusted resource for home-buying education, counseling, and financial services, the Portland Housing Center has helped more than 10,000 families become homeowners since 1991. Alongside their breadth of history and deep knowledge of the Portland market, we conducted an ethnographic study and delivered key findings.

Through our social impact strategy, creative communications, and community engagement services and strategic partnerships with the Portland Housing Center, Portland Housing Bureau, and local development company, Adre, the survey dove deep into uncovering housing preferences and the underlying attitudes and perceptions Black residents have about homeownership and the homebuying process in the Greater Portland region.

Results

With a current landscape that shows the Black homeownership rate in Portland has decreased by about 25%, leaving the city below the national average, our key findings presented clear needs that new initiatives and policies could better bridge. These findings included what kind of housing structures residents desire, monthly payment averages, location preferences, and more. With this baseline, our engagement and data analysis work helped shape city and state policies designed to prioritize affordable, intergenerational housing for Black, Indigenous, and People of Color and low-income communities, and residential development design approaches.