Metro, Portland to Break Ground on Affordable Housing Built for Seniors and Honoring the First Black Woman Elected to Oregon Legislature

EVENT DETAILS: 3 p.m. to 4:30 p.m., Wednesday, March 12 at 3704 N Interstate Ave., in Portland

It wasn’t until 1984 that a Black woman was elected to any state legislature west of the Mississippi. On Wednesday, the woman that holds the distinction, the former Oregon Sen. Margaret Louise Carter, will join elected officials from Metro and Portland, and other project partners, as they break ground on a new affordable housing community named in her honor.

Photo: Metro

Once construction is complete, M Carter Commons will offer 62 studio and one-bedroom apartments in the Overlook neighborhood for older adults earning less than 60% of the area median income and looking to return to the area under Portland’s N/NE Preference Policy. This policy aims to address the harmful impacts of urban renewal, eminent domain and historical inequitable housing practices in the North and Northeast Portland community. Twenty-one homes will be set aside for residents earning less than 30% of the area median income.

A mix of private and public funds support this project, including $8.1 million from the voter-passed Metro affordable housing bond, awarded by Portland Housing Bureau, and a $300,000 grant from Metro’s Transit Oriented Development Program, which funds housing projects near high-frequency public transit. Northwest Housing Alternatives and the Urban League of Portland are co-owners and developers of the property.

Arleta Christian with Urban League of Portland (Photo: Metro)

The project is located on land valued at $1.3 million that was donated by Kaiser Permanente. The property sits adjacent to the health care organization’s North Interstate medical campus and across from TriMet’s Overlook Park MAX Station.

“Sen. Margaret Carter inspires us to honor and support the seniors in our community. In her name, we break ground today on a project that will house older adults in a safe, comfortable and convenient community,” Metro Councilor Mary Nolan said. “Around the country, homelessness among older adults is rising faster than any other population. This region needs housing like the M Carter Commons as demand for affordable senior living grows.”

“Thanks to the City’s N/NE Preference Policy, many of the seniors who live here at M Carter Commons will be those whose families were forced from their homes by harmful urban renewal practices when they were children,” Portland Housing Bureau Business Operations & Equity Manager Leslie Goodlow said. “We may not be able to right the wrongs of the past, but projects like these are essential to healing this community and moving towards a brighter future.”

Metro Councilor Mary Nolan addresses the crowd at the M Carter Commons groundbreaking (Photo: Metro)

Carter went on to serve in the legislature for more than two decades and in 2005 became the first Black Oregon Senate president pro tempore.