The rich families’ down-payment assistance program

Chuck Sheketoff

No doubt about it, Oregon is in the midst of a housing crisis. Families are being evicted en masse. The number of homeless school children is at a record level. Many families are priced out of being able to buy a home. And this problem is not just in Portland and other hot markets. Rural counties in Oregon are some of the nation’s most unaffordable rural counties.

So, enter the Oregon Association of Realtors with its plan to address the housing crisis: the Rich Families’ Down-Payment Assistance Program. Okay, that’s not what they call it, but that is in effect what House Bill 2996 would be if the legislature went along with this proposal. You very well may have seen the association of realtors’ large ads hawking the proposal (PDF) in a Sunday paper last weekend.

HB 2996 proposes to create a “First-Time Home Buyer Savings Account” program. It would allow people to shelter income from taxation by putting money into a special savings account at a bank, so long as those funds are eventually used to buy a home. So what’s the problem? The problem is that this would create a huge tax loophole for the well-off — wide enough to drive a truck through with a McMansion in tow.

This special account would be a tax shelter, not a shelter for the homeless and those struggling to own a home. The money deposited there would be subtracted — sheltered — from the taxable income of the person putting it in. And neither interest nor withdrawals would be taxed.

The bill does not means-test who can set up or benefit from the tax free account. So even Phil Knight could set one up.

To top it off, you could set up an account to benefit someone else. For example, parents could set up one of these tax shelters to help their kid buy a home.

The problem with this is that those who will use this savings account program will be mainly those families that already have the greatest means of helping their children and relatives buy a home. It will just allow them to do what they otherwise would do while avoiding taxes — taking revenue away from affordable housing programs, education and other vital services.

Why am I so confident in saying it will mainly be the rich who will use this down-payment tax shelter program? Because we can look at existing examples of this sort of subsidy scheme. The Oregon 529 College Savings Network accounts are set up similarly, and it is the most well-off who use them. About 87 percent of all the tax benefits of the college savings plan is going to the highest income group (the top fifth) of Oregonians.

We need real solutions to Oregon’s housing crisis, not more tax giveaways to those most well- off.

Fortunately, lawmakers have a better alternative to help first-time and other homeowners: HB 2006, a common sense reform of the Oregon mortgage interest deduction. That is a proposal that would truly help our state confront the housing crisis.

Chuck Sheketoff is the executive director of the Oregon Center for Public Policy. You can sign up to receive email notification of OCPP materials at www.ocpp.org.

By Chuck Sheketoff March 10, 2017

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Hey, white progressives, stop attacking people of color with unfounded lies.

By Jerome Brooks of Portland, Oregon. Jerome has worked in the public and nonprofit sectors to expand opportunities for vulnerable Oregonians.

We all already know this, but it needs to be said – Portland has a very long history of disparaging, attacking, and assassinating the character of people of color who become leaders – especially black leaders.

In a time when we are supposed to be coming closer together under what is the most extreme Presidential Administration in modern history, we also must be vigilant in addressing xenophobia, racism, bigotry, and oppression in our own backyard. I, like many leaders of color in Portland, often find myself experiencing or witnessing both subtle and blatant racism, but often only share my thoughts with people who share those same lived experiences. The reason being is a person of color speaking out against oppression and racism in Portland is like pouring gasoline all over yourself while standing next to a campfire.

I could go through and list names of the victims, recent and old, but I’ll just get to what caused me to speak up today.

13 ways to address Oregon's revenue shortfall

Chuck Sheketoff

The Oregon legislature’s budget writing committee has begun to hear from Oregonians about how to deal with a $1.8 billion revenue shortfall. At a recent town hall in Portland, nearly everyone who spoke urged lawmakers to spare schools and other vital services from devastating cuts by raising revenue, especially from corporations.

The public’s message is spot on. It addresses the cause of the problem and forces the legislature to recognize that it can’t cut its way out of the mess.

Schools and other vital public services open the door of opportunity for Oregonians, and yet they suffer structural underfunding. Public schools’ budgets and programs, for example, have not recovered from the devastating impact of property tax changes in the 1990s. And today, a significant revenue shortfall in the upcoming budget period threatens to further erode education and other public services. Meanwhile, we have an Oregon tax code that is riddled with tax giveaways for corporations and the wealthy.

By Chuck Sheketoff Feb. 15, 2017

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Big Win for Tenants in Portland Has Statewide Implications

By Margot Black of Portland, Oregon. Margot is a mother of three, college mathematics instructor, and an organizer with Portland Tenants United.

Portland just did a really big thing, and it’s a really big deal.

Effective immediately, landlords who choose to displace their tenants with a no-cause eviction or an unaffordable rent increase of 10% or more will be required to pay their tenant’s relocation expenses, depending on the size of their unit. Displaced tenants will receive a moving expense benefit of $2900 for a studio, $3300 for a 1-bedroom, $3900 for a 2-bedroom, and $4500 for a 3 bedroom or bigger. This landmark tenant protection, arguably the most far reaching and power-balancing regulation in the state’s history, was spearheaded by new City Commissioner and renter, Chloe Eudaly, whose call for a rent freeze during her campaign helped her defeat the incumbent candidate, and was co-sponsored by new Mayor, Ted Wheeler, who also ran on a tenant rights platform. Both candidates were strongly influenced by the work and power of Portland Tenants United, a rapidly growing tenant union empowering tenants to challenge the status quo. In particular, providing tenants with relocation assistance when they are displaced by no fault of their own, is a key component of Portland Tenant’s United’s Tenants Bill of Rights.

This historic ordinance is a game-changer for tenants, especially during a deepening housing crisis. When a no-cause eviction is tantamount to an eviction from Portland, and daily headlines tell of a burgeoning population of “newly-homeless”, when family shelters are overflowing, and rent increases are breaking city and national records, all tenants live in fear of the dreaded letter on their door from their landlord. When a landlord can so casually displace their tenants, without accountability or consequence, the tenant dare not question their landlord’s unreasonable demands and illegal fees, lack of regular maintenance, or intimidating treatment. A strong financial disincentive to force tenants out of their homes and communities means that tenants can now breath a little easier.

#WheresDennis?

By Val Hoyle of Eugene, Oregon. Val is the former Majority Leader of the Oregon House of Representatives.

It's rare that I find myself in strong agreement with The Oregonian, however I was encouraged by their editorial last week about the importance of local electeds speaking out against President Trump's executive order. As a second generation American and wife of an immigrant, I appreciate the great number of political, business, and labor leaders in Oregon who have used their voices to oppose the kind of discriminatory policies that my family members encountered when they arrived in this country.

One voice is conspicuously absent. That of our newly elected GOP Secretary of State, Dennis Richardson. Dennis Richardson is the only Oregon statewide elected official who has NOT condemned the "Muslim Ban."

As Oregon joins a lawsuit with 18 states and Washington, D.C. against Trump’s unconstitutional and inhumane ban, Richardson has remained silent. He has ignored calls from One Oregon, Mother Pac, Basic Rights Oregon, Planned Parenthood, and others to take a stand in support of Oregon values. He looks the other way as Trump tries to lock the door on refugee children, women and families, even as Amnesty International reports that the Syrian president and military officials maintained a "slaughterhouse" that hanged to death between 20 and 50 people a week.

Will Dennis Richardson stand up for all Oregonians or for a select few?