ALERT: Commissioner Saltzman breaking promise to save Oak Leaf mobile home park
Oak Leaf residents need your help TODAY to save their homes!
Portland City Commissioner Dan Saltzman is breaking his promise to help Oak Leaf Mobile Home Park residents save their homes and establish Portland’s first affordable housing cooperative. Residents received this news with only days remaining before the September 30 deadline to buy the park from their landlord.
Take action NOW to Save the Oak Leaf!
Call Commissioner Saltzman at 503-823-4151. Tell him:
“Commissioner Dan Saltzman: Keep your promise to the Oak Leaf mobile home residents. They faced homelessness, and they fought back. They’ve made it possible for you to save over 30 homes, and to keep them affordable for generations to come. I am counting on you to keep your word. Provide the funds that you promised them, to save their homes and create Portland’s first affordable housing cooperative.”
Background
In June, after hundreds of supporters rallied behind the Oak Leaf, Saltzman publicly committed that he would provide $1.5 million to help the residents buy the property as a cooperative. This came after residents of the Cully neighborhood mobile home park waged a determined fight to convince the landlord to sell to their cooperative, rather than to an investor who had planned to close the park and evict everyone. Many residents faced likely homelessness. If Saltzman doesn’t keep his promise, they will be back in the same position.
Now, Saltzman says he will not honor his commitment. Instead, he will only provide funding to a third-party non-profit, if one can be found, that would buy the Oak Leaf and run it as a rental property. He has rejected the residents’ offers to compromise. If Saltzman’s new plan goes forward, the current homes would be confiscated, and residents who own their own homes would become renters in replacement homes owned by a new landlord. The residents’ dream of self-determination and cooperative ownership would vanish into thin air.
Call Commissioner Saltzman NOW! 503-823-4151.
And/or e-mail: dan@portlandoregon.gov
Questions and info: Cameron Herrington, Living Cully, 503-489-8334