For the tenants rights advocates that think life would be perfect with
no rules or enforcement!
Communism fails. Capitalism succeeds!

from
https://www.wweek.com/news/2023/06/07/a-28-million-low-income-apartment-complex-descends-into-chaos-in-just-two-and-a-half-years/

A $28 Million Low-Income Apartment Complex Descends Into Chaos in Just
Two and a Half Years
“I thought I was moving into Shangri-La.”

Chau Nguyen and her daughter became ill after inhaling fentanyl smoke in
the Buri Building elevator. (Allison Barr)
By Anthony Effinger
June 07, 2023 at 6:00 am PDT

At first glance, the Buri Building in the Hazelwood neighborhood looks
like an ideal way to house some of the thousands of people living in
tent camps around Portland.

Taxpayer money helped erect the Buri, named for late tenant rights
advocate Justin Buri. The developer, a nonprofit called Northwest
Housing Alternatives, used a tax-exempt bond program and low-income
housing tax credits to finance construction and got public money from an
alphabet soup of sources, including $175,000 from Metro, the regional
government, that’s earmarked for buildings near mass transit.

Less than 3 years old, the $28.4 million low-income apartment complex
has a pitched roof and dashes of orange on the exterior. There’s a
courtyard where a walkway snakes through perennials and trees. Inside,
the hallways are long and bright. Warhol-sized abstract paintings grace
the elevator landings on all four floors.

“I thought I was moving into Shangri-La,” says Ringo Jones, 55.

But spend some time talking to residents and another picture emerges.

“It’s like living in hell here,” says Allen Lumsden, 45.

Tenants let homeless friends in from the street who shoot up in the
stairways, sleep on couches in common areas, smoke fentanyl in the
elevators, and vandalize plumbing. They pound and pry at residents’
doors. People defecate in the stairways (this reporter observed an
impressive log that had been sitting for hours).

The elevators are often broken, making it difficult for tenants who use
mobility scooters to get around. When WW visited, the down button on the
fourth floor had been pried off and left on the floor. Lately, a woman
from the street has been roaming the halls with a hatchet, tenants say.

Allen Lumsden says Cascade Management doesn't answer the phone when he
calls about problems in the Buri Building. (Allison Barr)

A log of emergency calls confirms the conditions. In 2022 alone, police,
fire and medical personnel have responded to six calls about stabbings,
17 for assault, four about shots fired, seven for vandalism, eight on
restraining order violations, and one labeled “death–obvious–cold/stiff.”

The building’s management company doesn’t respond, Lumsden and others
say. There is no one to call after 5 pm or on weekends, even in emergencies.

That a brand-new building could descend into chaos so quickly raises
tough questions as Portland and Multnomah County spend hundreds of
millions in new tax money on housing. If local leaders spend the money
to build it, they must find capable contractors to manage it, both to
protect the residents and the physical plant.

That’s not easy these days, says Margaret Van Vliet, former director of
both Oregon Housing and Community Services and the Portland Housing
Bureau. Low-income properties often serve people with very special
needs, and that takes personnel.

Money is plentiful thanks to bond measures that have raised millions and
a Metro tax on high earners that is expected to raise $250 million a
year for housing and services. The problem is finding firms that are
willing and qualified to manage properties that house difficult
populations once the buildings go up.

“To be compassionate as a society, we have to house people who don’t
always make good tenants when they first land an apartment,” Van Vliet
says. “It’s a difficult, unattractive business for some property
management companies.”

The Buri raised money for its 2020 construction through the federal
Low-Income Housing Tax Credit program and the state’s Local Innovation
and Fast Track program. It tapped the transit money from Metro and added
a dollop for design from the Oregon Multifamily Energy Program.

Anyone who makes 60% or less of the median income in Multnomah County,
or about $68,000 for a family of four, can apply to live in the Buri.

The owner, according to property records, is Gateway Hermiston
Affordable Housing GP LLC, according to the Oregon Secretary of State’s
Office. Gateway, in turn, is controlled by Northwest Housing Alternatives.

On its website, NHA calls itself “the leading not-for-profit developer
of affordable housing in Oregon,” building apartments for people earning
less than $16,000 a year. (Trell Anderson, CEO of the nonprofit, was
paid $149,829 in 2021, according to NHA tax filings.)

“We are aware of—and have been concerned about—the decline of the Buri
Building in recent months,” NHA spokeswoman Ariane Le Chevallier said in
a statement. “We have been working closely with the property management
team to stabilize the building, and have taken concrete steps to improve
the security, staffing and management.”

NHA doesn’t manage the building itself. Instead, it contracts with a
for-profit company called Cascade Management, run by a couple named Dave
and Tiffany Bachman.

NHA wouldn’t provide WW with a copy of its contract with Cascade.

Dave Bachman has worked at Cascade Management since 1993, when he
graduated from Western Oregon University with a bachelor’s degree in
management consulting, according to his LinkedIn profile. In addition to
running Cascade Management, Bachman is an executive at Cascade Capital
Advisors, “a real estate investment advisory and asset management firm
for institutional clients and high net worth individuals seeking
opportunities in the real estate market in the Pacific Northwest, with
the goal of creating superior risk-adjusted returns.”

Translation: Bachman invests money for rich people in housing, much of
it for poor people, which he manages. Cascade has 11,000 units in 250
different developments, according to the Cascade Capital Advisors
website. It has 11 portfolio managers and 500 employees.

The Bachmans, who live in a $1.9 million house with a vineyard in
Sherwood, blame the Buri’s woes on Portland.

“The concerns addressed at the Buri Building and many other surrounding
metro properties are unfortunately not new or exclusive,” Tiffany
Bachman said in a statement. “There have been systemic issues in the
immediate neighborhood, and Portland in general, that management and
ownership have recognized and developed a new plan for how to operate in
these challenging times, post-pandemic.”

The $28.4-million Buri Building on Northeast Glisan Street. (Allison Barr)
One tenant who is especially ready for change is Chau Nguyen. She lives
in unit 414, a one-bedroom, with her boyfriend and two children, 5 and
20 months. Nguyen pays her $975 rent with Social Security disability
payments she gets because she has a learning disability.

In April, Nguyen got into the elevator with her kids and smelled
something strange. Back in their apartment, she became dizzy and her
head hurt. The kids threw up.

“I took them to hospital, and the doctor said they had been exposed to
fentanyl,” Nguyen, 40, says. “All three of us got sick.”

Making matters worse, Nguyen took in a malnourished dog named Babe who
had been chained to the gate to the Buri’s courtyard. She took it to a
Banfield Pet Hospital, got it spayed and had its teeth cleaned. She’s
paying the bill in monthly installments of $108, she says.

Soon after, a homeless woman from the neighborhood confronted her,
saying Babe was hers. The woman attacked Nguyen, pulling her hair.
Nguyen got a temporary stalking protective order on April 19, court
records show, which she sent to Cascade. Regardless, the woman is still
at large in the Buri, Nguyen says. In May, she roamed the halls with a
hatchet.

“She walks in like she owns the place,” Nguyen says. “Why am I paying
rent, and this chick is still harassing me? This building is not a place
to live. They don’t even pick up the phone.”

NHA pledges changes. Among other things, spokeswoman Le Chevallier says
NHA has hired a new security company for the Buri and a new on-site
manager, and has upgraded the electronic key system and hallway cameras.

But last weekend was just like any other, says Lumsden, who lives in
unit 424. Someone lit the bark chips in the courtyard on fire Saturday
night, and the fire bureau had to come twice. Both elevators broke
Sunday and were out of service from 4 am to 3 pm. The exterior doors
opened without a fob for much of weekend, and Lumsden passed someone
smoking fentanyl in the fourth-floor hallway Sunday morning.

Many of the tenants at the Buri are elderly, and several of them say
they spend most of their time in their apartments because they’re afraid
to go into the halls.

“All of the homeless people who come in scare us,” says Bonnie Bryant,
72. She pays $929 for a cramped studio. That amount had just gone up
from $885 in May.

On 7/5/23 12:52, a425couple wrote:
> For the tenants rights advocates that think life would be perfect with
> no rules or enforcement!
> Communism fails.  Capitalism succeeds!
>
> from
> https://www.wweek.com/news/2023/06/07/a-28-million-low-income-apartment-complex-descends-into-chaos-in-just-two-and-a-half-years/
>
> A $28 Million Low-Income Apartment Complex Descends Into Chaos in Just
> Two and a Half Years
> “I thought I was moving into Shangri-La.”
>
> Chau Nguyen and her daughter became ill after inhaling fentanyl smoke in
> the Buri Building elevator. (Allison Barr)
> By Anthony Effinger

comments include

Mt Hood
a month ago edited
This is why 'housing first' is a tragically stupid and fatally flawed
idea when dealing with addicts and the untreated mentally ill. It's fine
for those who have been displaced from homes due to financial hardship
but are otherwise accountable, law-abiding and desiring to get back on
their feet. But putting that first cohort into low-income housing
destroys it for that second cohort - literally and figuratively.

Oh, and thanks, Anthony. We can always count on WW to cast aspersion on
'wealthy white people' no matter how unrelated to the story or the
truth. Last month it was a developer of low-income housing. Now it's the
property management company. Here's a thought... you can't unleash a
tsunami of addicts on the city, roll out the red carpet for drug-related
criminal enterprises and expect everything else to function normally.
You created this shit-show. It's literally a shit-show as you noted
after observing your stewing 'log' in the stairwell. Do you think that's
the property management's fault?? These addicts are animals, and you
turned them loose on the city. Stop blaming others for the predictable
consequences of your poor choices and doomed policies.

J
jim karlock Mt Hood
a month ago
Nothing will change until the idiots running our city/county realize it
is an addiction problem and force re-hab. Housing first, justs makes
them more comfortable until they die of an overdose.
The IDIOTS NEVER SHOULD mix addicts with needy people like handicapped,
elderly and low income.
But that is what Portland gets by electing people on vague promises
instead of people who promise tried and true solutions.

Leslie jim karlock
a month ago
Housing First sounds like a good idea, but this doesn't sound like
Housing First. You're right, they shouldn't be mixing addicts,
handicapped, elderly and families in one building.

Guest jim karlock
a month ago
The city/county does not have that authority. Should they also force it
on every duii offender who endangers lives driving drunk and/or high?

7 Bad Words Guest
a month ago
DUI is a criminal offense; we use the legal system and jail to manage
repeat offenders and those who pose extreme risk to the community.
Unfortunately, you made that impossible with hardcore drug addicts via
M110. So, yeah, we should be able to force rehab on people who pose a
danger to themselves and others.

Mark F Mt Hood
a month ago
exactly. Local government needs to be honest about who is living on the
streets. Until that happens we won't see any progress. Housing First
will not work for many. And those that it does work for will inevitably
run into these problems living amongst the addicted and mentally ill. I
actually feel bad for these management companies, they are often tasked
with the impossible.

Kyle Hanson Mark F
23 days ago
OMG!! Yeah, feel sorry for the not for profit profiteers, who either
begged or otherwise bid, in one way or another for the contracts which
hold no one accountable for the degradation which is destined to befall
these places. What the fuck ever. ya know who i feel sorry for.., The
Tax paying normal folks who are paying out the nose and every other
orifice for these lame assed woke idiots who keep bleeding out their
hearts for these otherwise outstanding members of the community who just
happen to be responsible for the thefts of everything that is not bolted
down- they'll be back for that as soon as they steal some bolt cutters,
they know right where to get some too. Management companies. Managing
what, exactly? Their bank accounts since they started getting paid for
doing nothing, but possibly showing up occasionally, rattling some keys
then leaving before their car window gets smashed out.

fasleflagusa Mt Hood
a month ago
100% correct. And it just isn't this place on 98th and Glisan, ALL
public housing is the same way in Portland. It attracts the addicts and
felons. Until the Iron Fist of Justice is implemented, expect more of
the same. If it was just this one place, it would be easy enough to
correct. It is just a fact that many of these people know a lot of other
vagrants and hobos, and they will come over to trash the place. Until a
no-guest rule applies or else they get thrown out, this will continue to
happen. Housing last would be a much better policy. Until these people
can pass dozens of thresholds , it will be a complete waste of resources.

Floyd Rose Mt Hood
a month ago
It all come back to "whitey" or "systemic racism". It's become tiresome.

Fun Police Floyd Rose
a month ago
Didn't you hear though? They live on a winery? Let me repeat that... a
winery, where they make wine?!?!