Home forward

Home Forward is excited to announce that NE Portland’s Dekum Court will be completely redeveloped and significantly expanded with funding dedicated through Metro’s regional affordable housing bond. We are incredibly proud that local voters approved the bond and invested in affordable housing as a response to our regional housing crisis, and we truly appreciate Metro for prioritizing Dekum Court as one of the first properties funded by the bond.

Dekum Court, built in 1972, is home to 40 families with kids who live with very low incomes. Now, because of our region’s $652.8 million regional housing bond, Home Forward will redevelop the property and create a thriving community with 200 affordable homes that will serve thousands of Portland families for generations to come.

Who Benefits from This Redevelopment:

Current and Future Residents: The 40 families with kids who currently live at Dekum Court, the 160 new households joining them, and the thousands of families who will call Dekum Court home over the multi-generation lifespan of the property, will have safe, affordable, and stable housing that can increase positive health, educational, and social outcomes for their families.
Communities of Color: Historically and currently marginalized communities will once again find affordable homes in the Concordia neighborhood after a 75% increase in median home prices over ten years resulted in a 42% decrease in neighbors representing communities of color.
Local Workers: The development of 200 units of affordable housing will create approximately 160 temporary construction jobs. Those construction workers’ wages and local spending will support another 84 jobs, and Dekum Court’s 200 families’ local spending will support 60 permanent jobs in the community.
Businesses: The effort will spur $66 million in development activity and at least 20% of the work at Dekum Court will be performed by minority-owned, woman-owned, veteran-owned, and emerging small businesses.
The Community at Large: Having diverse neighborhoods with enough affordable housing options helps all of us all live better lives. More affordable housing means fewer people experiencing homelessness, increased community vitality, and an improved local economy.

Programming at Dekum Court will focus on early childhood development and education to complement the state-of-the-art learning environment located just three blocks away at Faubion Elementary School. Designed to serve a racially diverse population living with low incomes, Faubion Elementary School’s award-winning 3-to-PhD program that focuses on nurturing all aspects of a child’s wellbeing will now be available to generations of children growing up at Dekum Court.

Over the years, Home Forward has redeveloped and expanded three other public housing communities at a similar scale to Dekum Court: New Columbia, Stephens Creek Crossing and Humboldt Gardens. Like those other public housing communities, Dekum Court is situated on a large plot of land that can easily accommodate more homes.

Funding Sources:

Metro has awarded just under $23 million to Dekum Court.
Home Forward is donating the land and millions of dollars of its own cash to support the project.
Low Income Housing Tax Credits (LIHTC) and a mortgage will cover the remaining expenses.

Home Sizes and Affordability Levels:

200 apartments: 32 studios, 48 one-bedrooms, 53 two-bedrooms, 59 three-bedrooms, and 8 four-bedrooms.
The income levels: 106 units will be available for families earning very low incomes, at or below 30% of Median Family Income (MFI), and 94 units for households earning 60% MFI ($47,520 for a family of three).

Home Forward is extremely excited about the redevelopment of Dekum Court and we are incredibly grateful to Metro and our regional voters for their investment in this amazing neighborhood. We will continue to update the community as work at Dekum Court progresses and we look forward to breaking ground in 2021!