Making Housing Attainable For All
Affordable Housing Project
What We Do
Creating Sustainable Housing For All
Sustainable housing has two meanings for us: enduring support and environmental consciousness. Our Streets aims to develop affordable housing that provides long-term stability while enacting climate-friendly initiatives at a time that requires innovative solutions to address growing environmental problems
Our Project Goals
Communal Sustainability
Our priority focuses on housing, health, workforce, and family stability for both residents and neighbors of our properties. Our goal is to provide quality housing with comprehensive resources including workforce training, access to mental and physical health services, and family assistance.
Innovative Engagement
We seek to be quality partners to our residents and neighbors alike. Through innovative and flexible engagement techniques, we aim to incorporate the ideas and values of the neighborhoods we build in to encourage the integration of residents, neighbors and local businesses with our services and participation in the community.
Environmental Consciousness
From construction to service provision, we maintain a focus on sustainable and mindful practices. We engage and respect the environment and integrate environmental conscious applications in all operations to ensure the longevity of the climate and land.
Concrete Roots
Since our inception in 2020, we have embraced continuous growth to develop and refine our organizational roots. By embracing a “boots on the ground” mentality, we stay true to our values to be active participants in the community and create lasting relationships with everyone we work with.
Our Northeast MLK Property
In 2023, Our Streets secured an old car wash property on NE Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard with the purpose of turning it into an affordable housing development. Housing development is a long, arduous process, and a task that we are actively taking on with excitement. As this project is in its early stages, the property is sitting idle, providing a great opportunity for us to get creative with the space in the meantime.
With the help of the community, Our Streets has turned the property into a colorful oasis, shaping the old carwash into a positive sight to pass by on a resident’s commute.
Why We’re Doing it
From the beginning, the core of Our Streets’ mission has been about filling gaps found within undeserved communities. When our organization began as a grassroots effort, we met one of the most basic yet essential needs with the resources we had: food. As our organization evolved, so did our ability to provide nutritious, well-rounded meals to more people in need.
The primary population we serve today are folks experiencing homelessness. Within Portland, one of the greatest needs of city residents is stable, affordable housing. Around 6,000 people were experiencing homelessness according to the 2023 Point in Time Count, and on any given night 1 in 165 people in Portland experiences homelessness. As Our Streets has grown, our capacity to serve our community has expanded. As our meal program has evolved into serving more than 800 meals every day, we have developed an even greater understanding of people who are housing insecure. Addressing this insecurity head-on was a dream when our organization first formed, and now, we have the opportunity to provide sustainable housing to those who need it most.
