Founded in 2014, the Welcome Home Coalition was formed to address the growing housing crisis in the Portland Metro Area of Oregon. Since our founding, our network has successfully passed initiatives to ensure more people have access to quality housing. Today, we are a diverse coalition of organizations with a shared vision of our region.

Our History

2014

2015

  • Welcome Home began a campaign to pass the Yes, for Affordable Homes to allow the City of Portland to invest in affordable housing.
  • Welcome Home led advocacy to increase the Tax Increment Financing (TIF) for Affordable Housing in the City of Portland. In July 2015, the City of Portland increased the TIF from 30% to 45% – successfully increasing funds for affordable housing development.
2016

  • Portland voters passed the Yes, for Affordable Homes, measure 26-179 (City of Portland Affordable Housing Bond). The $258 million bond set out to add 1,300 housing units. As of 2022, all the original housing goals have been exceeded.
2017

  • Welcome Home led advocacy to pass the Yes, for Affordable Housing, measure 26-199 (Portland Metro Regional Affordable Housing Bond) & measure 102 (Statewide constitutional amendment), to create permanently affordable homes across Washington, Clackamas, and Multnomah counties.
2018

  • Voters passed Yes, for Affordable Housing. The $652.8 million bond has the goal to build or preserve an estimated 2,400-3,900 housing units for residents living on low incomes.
2019

  • Welcome Home Coalition members participated in the creation of the Here Together measure (measure 26-210), an income tax to fund Supportive Housing Services. The measure is expected to generate $2.5 billion over 10 years to provide housing assistance and services for people experiencing homelessness or housing insecurity.
  • Welcome Home hired a Regional Organizer and hosted an Emerson Hunger Fellow to promote advocacy centered around listening to those who have lived experiences of housing insecurity.
2020

  • Welcome Home’s Regional Organizer began community advocacy training with a cohort of people with lived experience with homelessness.
  • Voters passed the Here Together measure.
  • Welcome Home focused its advocacy priorities on increasing funding for rent assistance and supporting state and local eviction prevention laws in response to the COVID pandemic. These efforts carried into 2021.
2021

  • Welcome Home hired a Development Associate in order to fund stipends for participants of our advocacy programming and hosted a second Emerson Hunger Fellow to research new housing policies to potentially advocate for in our region.
  • Welcome Home offered financial support to culturally specific and culturally responsive organizations to increase their community organizing capacity.
  • Welcome Home engaged with TriMet to advance a more equitable Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) strategy. As part of the Getting There Together Coalition, we advocated that TriMet commit to ensuring affordable housing development along with new transit developments.
  • The Supportive Housing Services Measure dispersed its first round of funding to social service organizations. Along with other successes, these new public funds have allowed for over 1,000 supportive housing units to be created from July through December 2021.
2022

  • Welcome Home Coalition continues to engage in the community to ensure people with lived experience of homelessness or housing instability are involved in solution creation and implementation.
  • As of May 2022, Portland Housing Bond has opened 452 new affordable units. 545 more units will open in 2022 and 493 will open in 2023.
  • As of March 2022, the Metro Housing Bond has opened 180 new affordable units with 1,092 units currently under construction.