Rising rents have pushed vulnerable Portlanders east -- past 82nd Avenue, past Interstate 205 and into the city's most diverse and low-income neighborhoods, far from the public eye and political influence.

But east Portland residents and advocates said at a public event Monday that the area is no longer immune to the city's red-hot rental market and record low vacancy rates.

In emotional testimony Monday, immigrants, low-income residents and advocates said Portland's leaders can and must do more to ensure that they aren't pushed out of their neighborhoods and the city itself as gentrification moves east.

Members of the city-funded East Portland Action Plan presented a list of policy recommendations Monday that they say could help.

"We can prevent significant displacement here," said Lore Wintergreen, an advocate for the neighborhood group. "That's not true in the rest of the city."

The recommendations come after a year of workshops and listening sessions with more than 200 residents from diverse backgrounds.

Momota Kiole, a 45-year-old mother of three, said her family has had to move twice in the past two years and that it's been rough, especially for the kids. The frequent adjustments have hurt their grades and made it difficult to make friends.

Kiole said the city needs to build more affordable housing now. "If nothing is done, it's just inhumane," she said.

Wintergreen said east Portland will soon get improvements such as new parks and some $70 million in transportation fixes. "We think that the people currently living here deserve to be able to stay and benefit from these improvements," she said at a press conference.

East Portland, the area generally east of I-205 and west of Gresham, is massive. It represents 20 percent of the city's land area and is home to 25 percent of its residents.

Here are some of the group's recommendations:

Help keep families in their homes if they own them, and expand homeownership opportunities and chances for "cooperative ownership" of apartment buildings.

Increase renter protections by strengthening laws protecting renters from no-cause evictions, enforcing the city's codes and imposing "significant penalties" on landlords who violate them.

Lift the state ban on inclusionary zoning and require developers to include affordable units in exchange for benefits such as the ability to build more units than the zoning otherwise allows.

Broaden the negotiated community benefits deals with government agencies, which require specific benefits for neighborhoods and include stipulations requiring minority contractors and local hiring provisions in new construction.

Keep investing in local businesses, stabilizing their rents through economic development projects and storefront improvement programs.

Dozens of residents with a diversity of backgrounds - Russian, Bhutanese, Tongan -- attended the press conference at east Portland's Immigrant and Refugee Community Organization. A handful gave emotional speeches about their experiences.

Dilli Wagley, who came to Portland five years ago as a refugee from Bhutan, said he's worried rising rents will make him a refugee again. "I know how heartbreaking and terrifying it is to live without a home," Wagley said through a translator, "but I am again facing this awful reality."

Ann Voos, a 61-year-old grandmother, said she has no alternative than to sleep in an RV in her brother's backyard.

Anna Litvinenko, a Russian immigrant and mother of four, lives in a 1,100 square foot house with 11 other family members.

Kiole, a New Zealander of Tongan descent, said each move pushes the family farther away from the tight-knit Tongan community they established in inner Northeast Portland, where they first moved more than a decade ago.

Their Seventh-Day Adventist church is now more than 100 blocks away.

She works part time as a caregiver, and her husband, Vili, is a construction laborer.

Rents keep rising, but wages are stagnant and construction work isn't as busy in the rainy months.

The family used to pay $700 a month but now pays $1,100 for a two-bedroom unit on 136th Avenue. Six people live in the cramped apartment because Kiole's 75-year-old mother moved in after she could no longer afford her apartment.

"I cannot imagine myself having my mother live on the street," she said, her voice breaking.

The east Portland group plans to present its recommendations to each member of the City Council. It's not clear what happens next.

East Portlanders urge city to prevent displacement before it occurs 10 Gallery: East Portlanders urge city to prevent displacement before it occurs



-- Andrew Theen

atheen@oregonian.com

503-294-4026

@cityhallwatch