191 new affordable homes coming to Cully!
Living Cully partner organizations Hacienda CDC and Native American Youth and Family Center (NAYA) receive $23.7 million to build homes at the former Sugar Shack site on Killingsworth and at Prescott & Cully.
Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler announced on Tuesday that two separate affordable housing proposals in the Cully neighborhood will receive funds from Portland’s Affordable Housing Bond, which was approved by voters in 2016. Combined, these projects will create 191 new homes that will be permanently affordable to low-income households, ranging from studios to three-bedroom apartments.
Seven additional housing projects in other Portland neighborhoods also received funding on Tuesday, bringing the total number of new affordable homes created by the 2016 bond fund to 1,424.
Hacienda CDC will receive $16.2 million toward the construction of Las Adelitas, a 141-apartment building at the site of the former Sugar Shack strip club on NE Killingsworth and Cully. This award represents a milestone in the Cully neighborhood’s years-long effort to shut down the notorious Sugar Shack and convert the property into a positive, life-giving place for our community.
Earlier this year Cully neighbors, organized through the Cully Housing Action Team (CHAT), led a campaign to support Las Adelitas. In May, a community celebration was held on the vacant lot where Las Adelitas will be built, and over 500 postcards in support of the project were subsequently delivered to City Council offices.
Native American Youth and Family Center and Community Development Partners were also successful in their application to build 50 new affordable homes at 5827 NE Prescott St. $7.5 million was awarded toward this project, which will be within close walking distance of transit, Albertson’s grocery store, neighborhood parks, and both Harvey Scott and Rigler elementary schools. The property was purchased proactively last year by the Portland Housing Bureau, in order to secure the opportunity to build affordable homes at this accessible and well-resourced location. NAYA will partner with the Native American Rehabilitation Association (NARA) to provide services to residents.
These investments in Cully’s long-term affordable housing infrastructure are tremendous victories for the Cully community, Hacienda CDC, NAYA, and the Living Cully partnership. In 2016, members of Living Cully’s Cully Housing Action Team (CHAT) canvassed the neighborhood in support of the $252 million citywide affordable housing bond. After CHAT volunteers knocked on some 1,100 doors, over 60% of Cully voters said YES to the bond, which was approved citywide. The two affordable housing projects in Cully now receiving bond funds bring that initial 2016 effort full-circle.
Hacienda CDC and NAYA are members of the Living Cully coalition, alongside Verde and Habitat for Humanity Portland/Metro East. Through on-the-ground development projects, grassroots community organizing, and policy advocacy, the Living Cully partners work to preserve and expand affordable housing and other opportunities that prevent displacement and help people of color and low-income people thrive in the Cully neighborhood.