Exploring a Cully TIF District

How can investments and development in the Cully neighborhood benefit current residents, rather than leading to gentrification and displacement?

What would Cully be like if the people who are vulnerable to displacement had a way to help shape how the neighborhood grows and changes?

That is what we are working to find out. Seven community-based organizations are exploring the creation of a Community-Driven Development District that would make investments to ensure Cully is a place where Black, indigenous and tribal people, people of color, low income people, and others vulnerable to displacement will have stable, affordable homes and economic prosperity both now and for generations to come.

We are creating a proposal for a $100 million fund to prevent displacement and keep Cully affordable for current residents and future generations. Background information about this project, and a list of frequently asked questions, can be found here: About the Cully TIF District Exploration

 

Project Updates:

November 2022: The Cully TIF District has been approved!

On Wednesday 11/16/2022, City Council voted to approve the Cully TIF District. It will go into effect in July of 2023, and will exist for 30+ years. Over that time, a committee of Cully community members will work with Prosper Portland and Portland Housing Bureau to co-create investment priorities for over $300 million. These funds will go towards stabilizing the people and businesses in Cully most vulnerable to displacement. 

This milestone reflects over 4 years of work by the Living Cully Coalition, Cully Association of Neighbors, Our 42nd Avenue, Cully Boulevard Alliance, and the greater Cully community, in addition to close partnership with Prosper Portland and Portland Housing Bureau.

This is a huge accomplishment, but the work doesn’t stop. Be on the lookout for the application process for the Community Leadership Committee in spring of 2023. This group of Cully community members will help shape how TIF funds are used.

Check out the full press release here.

June/July 2022: Engagement Updates

The exploration of a community-driven tax increment finance (TIF) district continues to move forward, with the goal of advancing a final TIF District proposal for consideration by Portland City Council later this year. If approved, a new Cully TIF District could generate over $100 million, over the course of 20 years, to pay for affordable housing and economic development projects that prevent displacement and benefit people of color and low-income people.
This project is led by the Exploration Leadership Committee (ELC), a coalition that includes individual community leaders and seven Cully-based non-profit organizations: Cully Association of Neighbors (CAN), Cully Boulevard Alliance, Habitat for Humanity Portland Region, Hacienda CDC, Native American Youth and Family Center (NAYA), Our 42nd Avenue, and Verde.

Community Engagement

Between January and May, the ELC held four rounds of focus groups with Cully community members representing eight demographic groups that are vulnerable to displacement: Black community, Indigenous and tribal community, Latinx community, Somali community, mobile home residents, low-income homeowners, houseless people, and small business owners and workers. During the sessions, staff from the organizations and the City of Portland took notes and captured feedback provided by community members. Living Cully staff reviewed the notes to identify key themes from each round of meetings, in order to inform the final content of the TIF District proposal.

The reports for each round of meetings are linked here:

Next Steps

Now that community engagement has wrapped up, coalition members are working with Prosper Portland and the Portland Housing Bureau to complete both the District Plan, which defines the categories of projects that the District can invest money in, and an innovative Governance Charter that will ensure community leadership in the TIF District’s implementation. A three-step approval process will require the community’s proposal to be adopted successively by the Prosper Portland Board of Directors, the Planning and Sustainability Commission, and Portland City Council before the new TIF District can go into effect.

 

 

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