Housing
HOUSING PRODUCTION
Oregon lawmakers send Gov. Tina Kotek $376 million housing package to her desk for signature
Statesman Journal - 3/4/2024
Senator Kayse Jama urged lawmakers to support the legislation, saying the housing crisis required urgency, compassion and efficiency.
"We can debate costs of the housing crisis all day long, but there is no debate about the suffering of unhoused Oregonians." - Senator Kayse Jama
HOMELESSNESS
Oregon state senators approve more than $350 million to help state’s housing and homelessness crisis
OPB News - 3/1/2024
The money would boost housing production, create a new housing division to help navigate housing bureaucracies, help fund existing homeless shelters and give cities a one-time chance to bypass state land-use laws to build housing.
"If people don’t have a roof over their head, nothing else matters. We have to build more affordable housing. We have to increase our housing production." - Senator Kayse Jama
AFFORDABLE HOUSING
Allocating $25 million toward revitalizing Portland's Albina neighborhood
KGW News - 2/28/2024
The funding will be used toward redeveloping the Portland Public Schools headquarters and building 1,000 housing units in the historically Black neighborhood.
"There is a lot I'm proud of in the Emergency Housing Stabilization and Production Package, but I’m particularly excited that we will be sending $25 million to the Albina Vision Trust to redevelop the former Portland Public Schools Headquarters. This critical funding will give the state the opportunity to heal the harms of historically racist land-use decisions by investing in the historically Black Albina neighborhood, which has been fractured by redlining and the construction of Interstate 5." - Senator Kayse Jama
RENTAL ASSISTANCE & ACCOUNTABILITY
Oregon legislators extend eviction protection, approve $400 million for landlords, farmers
Capital Chronicle - 12/13/2021
Thousands of Oregon renters who faced the threat of receiving an eviction notice for Christmas are safe after the Legislature voted Monday to extend a safe harbor period and allocate another $215 million toward stopping evictions.
Along with providing more money, Senator Jama sent a letter requesting the Audits Division investigate the state agency responsible for handling the state’s rent assistance program.
EVICTION PROTECTION
With thousands facing eviction from their homes, Oregon Legislature coming to the rescue
Capital Chronicle - 12/12/2021
In a special session Monday, the Oregon Legislature will consider providing $100 million to landlords for tenants’ back rent.
To head off mass evictions, state Rep. Julie Fahey, D-Eugene, and Sen. Kayse Jama, D-Portland, spent weeks designing a rescue plan to protect tenants from eviction while paying landlords their past-due rent.
HOUSING NEEDS
Lawmakers OK more than $700 million for housing needs
Oregon Capital Insider - 7/16/2021
They go beyond immediate crises of evictions and foreclosures to boost housing supply and homeownership.
In addition to avoiding evictions and foreclosures, the 2021 Legislature aimed at increasing the supply of lower-cost housing, helping people without permanent shelter and reducing housing disparities faced by racial and ethnic minorities.
Climate
HEATING AND COOLING ASSISTANCE
States Look to Help Tenants Pay for Air Conditioning as Climate Warms
Stateline - 9/19/2022
As an intense heat wave scorched Oregon in the summer of 2021, Senator Kayse Jama knew people were literally dying from the heat. About 100 Oregonians passed away from heat-related causes, mostly low-income, older apartment-dwellers. About a quarter of the people who died lived in his district. That harsh statistic drove Jama to sponsor and successfully shepherd a bill to increase access to air conditioning in a part of the country where cooling had been less necessary before climate change began taking hold.
"We have a responsibility to protect Oregonians from climate change and protect the most vulnerable in our community. Climate change is not going anywhere; the heat waves are coming back year after year." - Senator Kayse Jama
CLIMATE CHANGE
Deadly Heat Wave’s Lesson: ‘This Is the Future We All Face’
Scientific American - 6/24/2022
After last year’s heat crisis, Pacific Northwest emergency managers, doctors and even transit systems are using lessons learned to prepare for this summer.
"We needed to act quickly and immediately to make sure that the next heat wave we can save lives and protect our vulnerable populations." - Senator Kayse Jama