After weeks of budget wrangling, Portland City Council on Wednesday signed off on $2.5 million for two Black-led homeownership projects in East and North Portland, money that backers say is meant to help families come back to neighborhoods they were pushed out of decades ago. The funding is designed to bolster down payment help and gap financing so moderate income buyers can actually qualify for homes that would otherwise be out of reach, a move city officials and development partners describe as targeted support for reparative housing and long-term wealth building.
Where the $2.5 million is headed
According to a supplemental budget, the city is steering $1 million to the Williams & Russell reparative development and $1.5 million to a Self Enhancement, Inc. homeownership project on NE 13th Avenue, for a total of $2.5 million in new support. That same budget action also set aside another $1 million for the city's Down Payment Assistance Loan program to help buyers close the gap on purchase costs, per a document from the City of Portland. Local coverage described the council vote as unanimous and quoted developers saying the dollars will subsidize opportunities for people to live in these homes as part of a broader affordability toolkit, as reported by KGW.
Williams & Russell project
Prosper Portland describes Williams & Russell as a $120 million reparative development at North Russell Street and North Williams Avenue that will feature about 85 affordable rental units, 20 for-sale townhomes and a roughly 30,000-square-foot business hub. Led by Williams & Russell CDC, the project explicitly reserves its homeownership units under the city's Preference Policy so that families displaced by mid 20th century urban renewal have a path back into the neighborhood. On its homeownership page, Williams & Russell CDC notes that the townhomes are aimed at buyers earning roughly 60 to 120 percent of area median income and are structured to support long-term wealth building.
Self Enhancement's NE 13th Avenue project
The city's supplemental budget indicates that Self Enhancement, Inc.'s NE 13th Avenue homeownership project will grow by 18 units beyond 31 already funded, for a total of 49 homes intended for ownership by local families, according to the City of Portland. Those new units are slated to be sold with subsidy supports so buyers who meet income targets can purchase instead of rent. Local reporting identifies the development as "Rudy Mac Place" and quotes project lead Trent Aldridge saying, "these dollars are going to be used to subsidize people's opportunity to actually live in these homes," while also detailing unit sizes and an expected construction timeline, as covered by KGW.
Why it matters
Advocates have framed the allocations as one piece of a wider push for reparative development in neighborhoods that lost Black residents to sweeping urban renewal efforts. Prosper Portland documents how the Williams & Russell site sat empty for years after condemnation, a high-profile reminder of the damage that past policies inflicted. Local coverage tracked weeks of council argument over whether and how to steer scarce housing dollars toward named community projects, and reported on Councilor Loretta Smith's effort to prioritize funding for Black-led organizations, as noted by Willamette Week.
Developers and the Portland Housing Bureau say the next phase is the unglamorous part: finalizing pro formas, locking in buyer criteria and eventually opening application windows. Project pages and CDC sign-ups are expected to publish those timelines as financing and permitting fall into place. For updates and application information, visit the Williams & Russell CDC homeownership page.
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