The Aurora: New Housing Now in Rosewood

Renderings for SE 160th and Stark

Project Overview

The new Rosewood neighborhood affordable housing community will provide 93 units of affordable housing in East Portland. This development is both a short- and long-term strategy to counter displacement, and will provide stable, affordable housing for vulnerable people and communities of color before displacement occurs.

  • 93 Affordable Apartments: This includes a mix of one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments for people making 30% and 60% of the area median income.
  • 16 Permanent Supportive Housing Units: These are designed to help people transition out of homelessness, offering wraparound services to help keep people housed.
  • Wraparound Services: LifeWorks NW and Our Just Future will provide a range of on-site services, like behavioral and mental health counseling, along with connections to other providers to meet residents’ specific needs.
  • Resident Amenities: Residents will have free high-speed internet access in every apartment and throughout the building, a multi-use community room for activities and events, lobby lounge space, indoor play area, laundry room, outdoor play area and courtyard, and 27 off-street parking spaces.

Resident Services and Programming Offered

  • Information and Resource Referrals: Staff will provide info about on-site community events, connections to Our Just Future programs, and assist residents in applying for programs like food stamps, TANF, unemployment benefits, SSI and SSID, Head Start, and OHP/Medicaid.
  • Eviction Prevention: Staff can actively provide community resources, utility assistance, mediation services, supplies to pass inspections, and access to Rent Payment Accommodation Program or client assistance funds.
  • Enhanced Mental Health and Addition Services: Residents who receive their health benefits through OHP will have access to Lifeworks Northwest’s mental health and addiction treatment services through the on-site Qualified Mental Health Practitioner.
  • Community Engagement: On-site community events for adult and children allow residents to come together to share in a communal meal, meet each other, and get to know the staff.

Examples of Additional Resident Services

Residents can access a range of other services that Our Just Future offers all our residents. These are some examples of resources residents can tap into.

  • LearnLinks: Free-of-charge, year-round after-school and summer program engages children in kindergarten through 8th grade.
  • Incredible Year’s Parenting Classes: An evidenced-based 14-week curriculum helps parents cope with their children’s behavioral needs, with an emphasis on how to prevent, reduce, and treat behavior and emotional problems in different age groups.

Renderings for SE 160th and Stark

Project Development Team

Project Timeline

  • Start construction: June 2021
  • Leasing starts: Spring 2023
  • Construction completion: Spring 2023

Funding Partners

Portland Housing Bureau, Oregon Housing and Community Services, PNC Bank, JP Morgan Chase Bank, Metro, Multnomah County, Meyer Memorial Trust, Collins Foundation, Sweigert Foundation, Enterprise Community Partners

Documents

Project Factsheet

Other Resources

How to Reach Us

Construction Progress

History and Community

Acknowledging Indigenous History is Essential

What we now call Portland and Multnomah County span the traditional lands of the Multnomah, Wasco, Kathlamet, Clackamas, Cowlitz, Bands of Chinook, Tualatin, Kalapuya, Molalla and many other Tribes and Bands who have long made their homes along the Columbia River. Today, people from these Tribes and Bands are members of the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde, the Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians, as well as the Chinook Nation and Cowlitz Nation in Washington State.

We do not know the specific historical uses of this land, but acknowledge that it was taken forcibly by white colonizers from Indigenous peoples. We also acknowledge the ongoing trauma on the people whose ancestors stewarded this land, and we invite conversation about the Indigenous history of the land and our role in it today.

More Recent History of the Land

Since this land’s colonization, others have occupied and used it. East Portland, including Rosewood, was annexed by the City of Portland in the 1980s and 1990s. Before that, it was part of unincorporated Multnomah County.

We only know some of this site’s history (single-family homes, many types of trees, a commercial restaurant), but are actively seeking a deeper historical understanding. If you have information about this site’s history, please reach out to us at rosewoodhousing@ourjustfuture.org or (503) 548-0222.

Our Just Future’s Engagement with this Land

Our Just Future (formely known as Human Solutions) purchased the land and vacant building at 160th and SE Stark in 2015 in partnership with Multnomah County and the Housing Development Center. Our goal from the beginning was to build permanent affordable housing within a decade. Initially, we operated an emergency shelter for families experiencing homelessness on the site. In 2018 we relocated that shelter, and many of the residents have since entered their own permanent housing – two accomplishments that helped us get ready to add this new affordable housing community to the Rosewood neighborhood.

East Portland’s Rosewood Neighborhood

According to The Rosewood Initiative, the neighborhood is the area within walking distance, or about a half mile radius, from the MAX light rail station at 162nd Ave and Burnside on the border of Portland and Gresham. The boundaries of the neighborhood are not formal, but rather recognize how Rosewood residents experience their lives. The area is home to more than 14,000 people from all over the world: people who are strong, resilient, talented, inspiring and full of dreams and potential. Rosewood is one of the most multicultural neighborhoods in Multnomah County, rich with diversity: 28% of residents were born in other countries, and the students in local schools speak 28 different languages.

Some Challenges

In general, Rosewood has a high concentration of poverty, and, as a result, many families are struggling to meet their basic needs, including housing. Almost 60% of the households have low incomes, earning less than 80% of the area median. Rosewood residents are vulnerable to displacement from even minor increases in housing costs, too often resulting in a loss of community and rooted connections for immigrants, communities of color and their children. Although rent in Rosewood remains lower than in close-in neighborhoods, the neighborhood has seen steep rent increases and the supply of affordable housing diminish in recent years.

Call for Community Historians

If you have information about this land’s history, we welcome you reaching out to us: (503) 548-0222 or rosewoodhousing@ourjustfuture.org.

Email our Rosewood Housing Team

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