Frontdoorpdx FINAL

Bring system into balance.

Goals

• Empower renters as buyers/consumers.
• Bring greater transparency to the rental real estate market for both landlords and renters specifically for below market subsidized rental properties a.k.a. affordable housing for low income renters.
• Addresses racial and income inequalities in public policy and the self-regulation of the real estate industry by property owners.
• Promote affordable housing opportunities.
• Contribute to the stability and resiliency of our neighborhoods as rentals outpace home ownership opportunities.
• Insure a robust and fair rental market in a town that places a high value on home ownership and land owners, but with a penchant for gentrification of low income neighborhoods.

2015

2013

2016

Level the Playing Field.

Objectives

• Empower renters and ensure their representation in decision-making bodies throughout the City bureaus and agencies.
• Minimize tenant turnover.
• Reduce rejection of tenants through renter education and referral.
• Streamline application process
• Increase satisfaction levels of renters with their home, neighborhood, and City regardless of the amount of rent they pay per month. (community building)
• Support local, neighborhood serving businesses. (community building)
• Through transparency limit speculation and manipulation of the growing rental market.
• Decrease the number of evictions.
• Eliminate evictions without cause.
• Support below market home ownership programs.

Shine a light, Give Ratings.

Services

• Moderated reviews per community guidelines. (expense)
• Scoring and rating of rental properties by renters. (expense)
• I&R, an Information and Referral service, provided by moderators to renters for increasing usefulness of community services - legal, social agencies, housing information - to address environmental, social and economic issues experienced by renters. (expense)
• Source for property listings (pages/database) for all affordable housing properties, public and private, to include inclusionary housing. (revenue/per page listing)
• Affordable products and services of value to renters. (revenue/ads)
• R&R, a tenant registry and records depository or Renters Membership Profile created by renters for use by prospective landlords to vet potential tenants and access their references. (revenue/fee based)

IMPORTANT TAKEAWAY

Sponsorship by community organizations as well as for profit companies is one source of revenue that does not necessarily have to compromise the integrity of the site's role as advocating for the rights of renters.

IMPORTANT TAKEAWAY

Property owners require a significant amount of paperwork that can now be managed by renters in much the same way they manage their health profile through online systems. Renters need to manage their own history, a good reason to provide a membership.

IMPORTANT TAKEAWAY

Renters, particularly those in affordable housing, spend a good portion of their income on not only housing but local neighborhood serving businesses.

IMPORTANT TAKEAWAY

IMPORTANT TAKEAWAY

How to find the properties that offer units (entire building or units within a building) that are subsidized rental units a.k.a. affordable housing units is difficult if not impossible. Here's what SF offers as but one example of housing opportunities made available online.

Community Manager

Responsible for Board and Advisory Committee relations and for meeting the goals and objectives of the organization. Recruits and hires key staff positions (3) and mediates disagreements between and among staff, board, members, and visitors to the site.

Partner Marketing Manager

Liaison with the Rental Services Commission.

Responsible for meeting revenue targets and relationships with organizations who provide funding.

Relationships with Advertisers/Sponsors

-defines and promotes advertising and sponsorship opportunities.

and Property Owners

-Page and listing in database.

Member and Visitor Relations Manager

Responsible for the authenticity of published reviews and scores by renters of properties.

Recruits, hires and manages moderators

(4 P/T) who review ratings, per community guidelines, and the scoring of rental properties by renters.

Responsible for identifying resources to help solve the problems of renters in finding and keeping affordable housing.

Recruits, hires and manages the Information and Referral Liaison who partners with community services - legal, social agencies, housing information - to address environmental, social and economic issues raised by renters. (expense)

Defins and then maintains membership profile to reduce paperwork of renters and enable them to be more easily and quicked "vetted" by prospective landlors.

Support Staff (P/T)

Finance Officer

Moderators (4)

WebManager

Information and Referral Program Liaison

Key Services

Legal

Creative

Info Trends

• Using the Internet to correct “information asymmetries.”
• Expedia (travel) Zillow (real estate) Glassdoor (work)
• Consumer review platforms can make or break a business, thanks to the increasing vocalization of customers when it comes to the items that they purchase.
• Social media and online communities play a large role in what future consumers decide to buy, by giving them easy access to accounts and reviews of products from real people who have purchased them. (https://goo.gl/vX2zC2)
• A move online for all things real estate o include listings, reviews, availability, pricing and trends
• Commercial site ApartmentRatings.com provides a national service to search, rent and review commercial properties. We plan to link to this service for renters of market rate housing to use. It’s in the category of apartment hunting, whereas the frontdoorpdx.org category is community building and empowerment of renters thhrough community review.

Know every rental you qualify for in minutes and never waste another dollar on application fee.

Housing

From 1940 to 2000 apartment housing with 2 to 4 units in the building was at its highest level in 1950, when it made up almost one-fifth of the total housing stock.  By 2000, it had dropped to less than one-tenth of the inventory. In 2000 it was at 7.2% here in Portland.

Units in larger apartment buildings of 5 or more units increased dramatically from 1960 (11 percent) to 1990 (18 percent).  In 2000, they represented 17 percent of the housing stock. Here in Portland in 2000 it was at 15.8%. The 2020 census will reflect further grown.

In Multnomah County Home ownership has declined and is at 57% as compared to 70% in Clackamas and 75% in Columbia.

Yet, there has been a “decade long increase in the city's proportion of multifamily housing such as apartments and condos." And, with a move towards the “vaunted urban lifestyle” in central city neighborhoods such as Old Town and Downtown where residents are mostly renters.

Renters

The move to renting among high-income households-most with two earners-intensified in recent years, accounting for nearly half (47 percent) of the growth in renters between 2013 and 2016.

Yet, despite the influx of higher-income households into the market, the typical renter household had an annual income of just $37,900 in 2015 - only about half the $70,800 annual income of the typical homeowner household.

http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2017/07/19/more-u-s-households-are-renting-than-at-any-point-in-50-years/