Coalition building
Uncommon Alliance,
   Common Vision

What does affordable housing have to do with the protection of urban air and water quality?

Plenty, as it turns out. And each, in turn, has a lot to do with urban design, food security, transportation choices, tax fairness, gentrification, land use, economic inequality, and environmental justice.

The links between these seemingly disparate issues have stimulated the growth of the Coalition for a Livable Future (CLF)–a unique alliance of community groups in the Portland-Vancouver region. And while making a difference in the region, CLF is also forging a new model of how coalitions can create positive change.

Attacking the Roots of Decay: In 1994, 1000 Friends of Oregon’s new executive director, Robert Liberty, heard a speech by Minnesota state legislator Myron Orfield, an expert on urban revitalization. Orfield described the forces that have undermined the promise of urban life in many American cities: crime, drugs, failing schools, declining tax bases, pollution, racial tensions, congestion, middle-class flight. Yet he offered hope that these problems could be overcome.

"Myron defeated the defeatism," Liberty remembers. "He challenged the notion of inevitability–that decay and decline of cities is just the market at work. Myron showed it is something you can fix."

Liberty brought Orfield to Portland and invited a wide array of local activists to hear him speak. Inspired and intrigued, they decided it was time to address the roots of urban decline in Portland before problems grew unmanageable. After Orfield left town, these people continued talking–and the Coalition for a Livable Future was born.

Unity in Diversity: Today, CLF brings together 50 environmental, social justice, affordable housing, neighborhood, and church groups, including many who might not ordinarily work together. Though their missions vary widely, these groups are united by a common belief that the decay afflicting many American cities can be prevented by bringing people together across issues to work on creative regional solutions.

"The important thing about the Coalition for a Livable Future," says Orfield, "is that it’s one of the first times you see the environment/land use crowd getting together with inner city/social justice groups. It’s a meeting of these two powerful progressive forces."

And it works. CLF’s dynamic interplay of ideas and expertise has created an organization that is much greater than the sum of its parts.

This cross-pollination is the soul of CLF’s strategy. "It’s not just a case of groups lending each other support," says community activist Lenny Dee. "It’s that these issues are all connected. Transportation affects affordable housing and greenspaces. The run-off from roads and parking lots affects water quality."

New Allies, New Ideas, New Power: Moreover, when a diverse group of people exchange views, new strategies and solutions arise. For instance, when low- and moderate-income people can’t afford to live in communities where many jobs are being created, they are forced to drive long distances, fouling the air and increasing the pressure to build new highways. Thus it makes sense for environmentalists to support the creation of a "fair share" housing policy which ensures the availability of affordable housing throughout the region.

"Sitting down with people you don’t think you share a common interest with broadens the way you look at things," says Rex Burkholder, founder of Portland’s Bicycle Transportation Alliance and a member of CLF’s board of trustees. "It’s not just debating about what the solution is. It’s looking at the problems in new ways."

Adds Mike Houck of the Audubon Society of Portland, "In learning one another’s issues, we all added value to our own work."

Most importantly, fashioning a broad consensus on problems facing the Portland region has enabled CLF to be taken seriously by elected officials and the public at large–and led to some tangible and significant victories.

Early on, Coalition members realized that in the past they had been played off against each other by various opponents. Some local developers and home builders, for instance, regularly try to dismantle land preservation measures in the name of promoting affordable housing.

But affordable housing activists, meeting regularly with conservation groups in the Coalition, came to understand that growth boundaries are not a significant cause of high housing prices. "They could no longer use a divide-and-conquer strategy on us," says housing activist Tasha Harmon, director of the Community Development Network.

This teamwork led to one of CLF’s most satisfying accomplishments: the adoption by Metro (the Portland area’s regional government) of "fair share" housing principles. When environmentalists joined the "fair share" housing campaign, Harmon remembers Metro officials saying, "Wow, you have the Audubon Society behind this!"

"Issues like the concentration of poverty and affordable housing were not on Metro’s radar until the Coalition came along," says Liberty. In addition, many of CLF’s detailed proposals on other issues ranging from transportation planning to riparian corridors have been incorporated into the region’s planning blueprint.

The Coalition has also undertaken a wide range of other projects, including:

• conducting a region-wide public forum on housing affordability, featuring national experts;

• releasing a report on the social impacts of rising housing costs;

• sponsoring an in-depth study of poverty issues in the region by Mryon Orfield;

• urging public agencies to analyze the impact of new developments on racial minorities and low-income residents;

• encouraging commuters to leave their cars home at least once a week through a public education campaign funded in part by municipal and state agencies;

• enlisting 26 architects to find ways to improve the look of row house developments.

Liberty looks back at the meeting he convened in 1994 with satisfaction. "Even I would not have predicted how well it would work," he says. "A good set of people focused on a set of circumstances–both fear and opportunity at the same time–can accomplish a lot."

Visit the Coalition for a Livable Future website.