Fighting Gentrification: Build Affordable Work/Live Artist Lofts to Rent and Own

Is there going to be any input by the actual artists that MIGHT be living and working in space that MAYBE being developed for artist? I think there should be some that offer ideas etc. m m janovec

Not that you were, but please don't throw this word around our neighborhood lightly. The Eliot neighborhood is bisected by some of the most blighted stretches of MLK and Vancouver/Williams. Development and progress here has been slow and painful, sometimes taking 1 step forward and 2 back. We are quick to gain used car dealers, pay-day loan shops, mental health clinics and halfway houses, but slow to gain goods and services that would benefit the immediate neighborhood (if you're thinking that mental health and halfway houses benefit our neighborhood, they really don't -- they bring in clients from OTHER neighborhoods, and take up space that could be used for goods and services such as grocery stores).
Eliot has one of the lowest owner-occupied housing ratios in the city, at only 35% (source: Portland Magazine). Most neighborhoods are around 60%.
If you call replacing empty blighted lots with new development that increases the livability of Eliot, such as owner-occupied housing and commercial buildings "gentrification," that is incorrect. I'll take that type of gentrification any day.

1) Are there any ideas for a more "lateral" integration of artist/artisans into communities?
The strategy for "'big box" live/work/art center/cafe/destination provides a "vertical" development without spatial and social connectivity to and within a neighborhood.
2) Cheap rent, ample project space, electricity, hot water, and heat are the bare essentials for creative "tenants."
But for creative people to invest materially and mentally in their neighborhood and prosper, they want stability, pride of place, and ownership. How could this deeper type of investment occur?
Could your nursing home rehab project be augmented by expanding scope, ie, annexes/multiple bldg development, or encouraging affordable housing and studio solutions in proximity to this project (force-multiplier effect)
Feeling adventurous, Sam? How about city council relaxing zoning and code restrictions on live work in a residential area, or city/PDC providing micro-loans to first time homebuyers for down payments?
Good luck with your project!

I suggest you talk a bit more about the future: "Permanently affordable" needs clarification.

What happens is an artist buys a unit and prices go up and that person sells to another person? What are the material restrictions on speculative purchase of the units, if any, and what are the penalties for flipping, if any, and how can any of this be enforced?

Without seriously addressing these questions the assertion that this will be a "permanently affordable" community is hard to believe in a town that has seen so much owned property go up in value so fast.

Thanks. I ask because for years now, wherever the artists and their pals have found cheap space in this town, the real estate market eventually follows them in and and goes berserk. As we all know.

There are fewer and fewer places they can go, so the idea of Milepost 5 is a good one -- but you should understand how hard it is to imagine this city doing anything to prevent such hipness-validated real estate from being sold at market rates, and even harder to imagine controlling rents since that's against state law. I wish this project luck in that regard.

I have been trying to understand this subject for a while, there is so much information out there, but your post helped me understand the concept.

So thank you

It saddens me that so much effort is spent on helping build housing for single people in Portland when so many families who have lived here their entire lives can not afford to buy a home even with two incomes. It seems to me that there is great effort to bring new people to Portland but no effort to keep families here. Existing programs are extremely limited and in no way meet the needs of families wanting to purchase homes. I feel that the only way I can buy a home in Portland is to win the lottery or to sell an organ. Working parents are truly the most neglected segment of the Portland populaton. We work hard, but gain so little.