Six strategies for a more equitable plan

UPDATE: Thanks to community input, equity strategies were incorporated into the Core Area Plan by the Urban Renewal Advisory Board on April 14, 2020. Read more.

The City of Bend’s Core Area Project Report and draft Implementation Plan (found here) will result in many positive and necessary improvements to the Bend Central District and the rest of the Core Area. These improvements will lead to increased property values, and without a clear strategy, could lead to displacement of Bend’s most vulnerable residents and local businesses.

It is important to learn from the past as we are planning for the future, and that is why we propose the following equity analysis and anti-displacement measures to improve the plan for the long-term health and prosperity of the City as a whole. 

We call upon the City of Bend to form deep partnerships with the community and explore new models of urban revitalization in which the existing residents share in the wealth-building as the neighborhood becomes more desirable. Our six proposed equity strategies are based on policy research and learnings from other communities.

Download the full comment from our partner organization Central Oregon LandWatch here.

1) Diversify Advisory Committee(s)

Action 6.1 to form an advisory committee for the implementation of the Urban Renewal/TIF Plan is a good first step toward including the existing community in decisions being made about their future. However, the requirement that committee members should “have the experience, education, and expertise necessary to make informed subject matter decisions” could be a barrier for participation for the populations whose engagement is most needed. 

This requirement should be expanded to include “lived experience as a member of a historically marginalized community or community at risk of displacement” as one of the criteria. There should also be a requirement that the committee has several members who represent culturally-specific community-based organizations and organizations that represent affected populations (such as Latino Community Association, Council on Aging, etc.).

 It is now becoming best practice to provide compensation to participants representing underserved and/or historically marginalized communities. This acknowledges the benefit received by their participation and the burden it places on them to participate.

2) Identify and Address Equity Gaps

The Core Area Report Existing Conditions section says there are more residents from communities of color in this area than the rest of the City. It should also include details from the Regional Housing Needs analysis and other available data about disparities in wealth, home ownership rates, business ownership, and access to capital for communities of color and other marginalized communities with the intention to work toward closing those gaps. 

3) Baseline & Ongoing Measurements

Once equity gaps are identified, there should be a set of community health metrics against which progress is measured under the Evaluation and Monitoring section of the Implementation Plan. The City should develop a method for tracking, monitoring, and evaluating resident and business displacement and equity outcomes over the life of the urban renewal area.

This can include creating an inventory for all housing units, identifying the type, risk category of displacement, and income level served. A similar inventory for businesses, including ownership information, job types and wages could be created. 

These metrics should be used on a regular basis to inform decision makers and the community about the level of displacement taking place and whether it is disproportionately impacting certain communities.

4) Process to Ensure Community Benefit for all TIF Investments

Create a process for making TIF investments that includes a set of steps and criteria for using TIF funds within each of the project categories to help direct resources to residents and businesses at risk of displacement. The process should include a negotiation with a community group that has the ability to represent the people who would be impacted by any expenditure of TIF funds. The criteria for prioritizing investments may be different for each of the project categories, but should be targeted toward helping projects meet certain standards to ensure community benefit.

5) Help Vulnerable Residents Remain

First, the City should implement baseline protections to prevent displacement of existing vulnerable residents (strategies and policy tools to do this can be found starting on page 60 of Attachment 9).

TIF funds should be used not just to develop new affordable housing, but also to preserve existing naturally-occurring affordable housing stock in adjacent neighborhoods. For any developments using TIF (perhaps with limited exceptions for the first several “pioneer” developments), there should be affordability requirements that are based on local neighborhood income needs. When new affordable housing is built, longtime, low-income residents should be prioritized for eligibility.

The City should implement a “No Net Loss” policy that requires any affordable or naturally occurring affordable housing units lost to redevelopment to be replaced.

Some of these concepts are already considered in Action 6.3, and the Report acknowledges the city does not currently have any housing stability programs, but can partner with organizations that provide those services.

6) Support Existing Small and Local Businesses

Action 6.2 to develop a business improvement program states the program “should provide assistance to businesses of all sizes, in the broadest range of industries, and support business prosperity regardless of whether or not the business owns or rents its [building].” This focus should be narrowed to prioritize locally-owned, women-owned, and minority-owned businesses, as well as businesses and non-profit organizations that provide a product or service that is beneficial to a historically underserved population and commit to tangible and sustainable economic benefits for underserved populations. 

Some other examples of strategies to support existing businesses are: providing technical assistance for businesses to buy their property, incentives for tenant improvements, organizing co-ops to buy spaces with multiple tenants, and affordable commercial tenanting programs.