We all deserve housing, safety, and better public health, regardless of our access to wealth or what neighborhood we live in. Yet Portland’s history of racist zoning and land use policies means that the city’s infrastructure is deeply inequitable – with BIPOC, low-income, and other marginalized communities lacking the same access to affordable housing, green space, and other resources that are more often granted to white and wealthy communities.
We need thorough, long-term investments to build a more equitable city and state, and decision-makers need to listen carefully to impacted communities as we move forward – particularly to those on the frontlines of systems of oppression.
What we don’t need are politicians who elevate developers’ profits over the needs of the people. However, this seems to be what’s happening with Governor Kotek’s Housing Production Advisory Council (HPAC), which recently recommended that cities be stripped of their power to implement existing tree codes to facilitate speedier, more profitable housing development.
As the climate crisis progresses, the year-round health benefits and life-saving shade that trees provide will become increasingly more important. It is extremely concerning that HPAC’s proposal threatens to decrease tree canopy and worsen shade inequity while not necessarily improving access to affordable housing.
While we firmly support building new, affordable, healthy housing, the HPAC proposal seems designed so that developers can improve their bottom line at the expense of community health, climate, and tree canopy equity. Housing and green infrastructure are not mutually exclusive and should not be pitted against one another. Instead, we need HPAC to creatively engage the challenge of maintaining tree cover while increasing housing density.
That’s why 350PDX spearheaded a letter signed by twenty organizations — who collectively represent thousands of Oregonians — that strongly objects to HPAC’s proposal. We are calling on Governor Kotek to not only reject this proposal, but also to direct HPAC to pursue more innovative, equitable, smart solutions that meet goals for housing, public health, and climate justice simultaneously.
We all deserve decision-makers who are accountable to us, as well as healthy homes and cities that make us more resilient in the coming years of climate crisis. We hope you join us in taking action today.
In gratitude,
Brenna Bell, 350PDX Climate Forest Manager
