PORTLAND, Ore. — A roughly $87 million, 206-unit affordable housing project opened in Southeast Portland on Tuesday on the site of a former strip club.
Hazel Ying Lee Apartments, located at 3000 Southeast Powell Boulevard, replaces the old Safari Showclub with what is now the largest affordable housing project to be built using Portland Housing Bond funds, a voter-backed initiative to create more affordable housing.
The housing was developed by Home Forward, Multnomah County's designated Housing Authority. It received around $33 million in Portland Housing Bonds and will provide different levels of affordability based on a household's income.
Around 156 of the units are designated for those who earn up 30% or 60% of the area median income, which is an annual income of nearly $24,800 to $49,700 for a single-person household. Rent for those units will range from $619 to $1,841, depending on the different income limits and units' sizes that are mostly studios and two-bedroom apartments, but there is a small selection of one- and three-bedroom apartments. Some of these units will also be designated for those exiting homelessness and have access to permanent supportive housing services.
Around half of Portland renters are considered cost-burdened, paying over 30% of their income in rent. The remaining units at Hazel Ying Lee offer rental assistance, allowing tenants to pay no more than 30% of their income.
Currently, the median market rent in Portland is approximately $1,217 for a studio and $1,900 for a two-bedroom apartment, according to Zillow.
"Our community is on a transformational journey and together with power of partnerships," said Ivory Matthews, CEO of Home Forward. "We can make this a better community for every single citizen that lives here, for every single citizen to be able to live and work and thrive in this community."
The building was named after Hazel Ying Lee, who was the first Chinese American woman to fly for the U.S. military. Lee was born in Portland in 1912. Following the attack on Pearl Harbor in World War II, she joined the Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP) and was one of only 1,074 pilots to be accepted during the two year's the project was active.
"The Hazel Ying Lee Apartments represents more than just housing," Matthews said. "They are a symbol of hope within the Creston-Kenilworth neighborhood offering stability and a sense of belonging to families who have faced the challenges of rising rents and gentrification. These 206 new homes are a testament to what we believe when we can come together with a shared vision of inclusivity and support."
