East Portland TIF Exploration
Contact: Dana DeKlyen, Roger Gonzalez, or Kathryn Hartinger – email
In October 2024, Portland City Council voted to approve the establishment of six new Tax Increment Finance (TIF) districts that will spur economic growth, create jobs, and invest in a range of affordable housing options in both Central City and East Portland over the next 30 years.
The newly approved East Portland districts (82nd Avenue Area, East 205, and Sumner-Parkrose-Argay-Columbia Corridor) will help address the urgent need to stabilize existing businesses and residents while supporting inclusive economic growth for current and future generations.
Over the next 30 years, these three TIF plans are expected to fund $643 million for affordable housing; $622 million for economic and urban development projects; and up to $165 million for infrastructure within their associated TIF districts in East Portland.
The new districts will begin collecting tax increment on July 1, 2025. Initial resources will be limited in the first five years but will increase over time. The implementation of the new TIF districts will start in 2025 with the formation of Community Leadership Committees (CLC), groups of community members with lived and professional experience, as well as connection to specific district, who will guide implementation.
Each district will have a dedicated CLC and their first task will be development of 5-year action plans for each district. Action Planning is a budgeting and prioritization process in coordination with community stakeholders to identify how to spend anticipated resources over the next 5 years, based on what types of investments are eligible as outlined in each TIF district plan. Resources are limited in the initial years of the TIF district but are expected to increase significantly over time.
Please join our interested parties list to stay up to date on next steps.
The Process
City Council voted to adopt the East Portland TIF District Plans in October 2024.
The Community Leadership Committee is defined in each East Portland TIF District’s Governance Charter and will provide oversight on five-year Action Plans that advance the goals of individual District Plans.
The Governance Structure(s) will identify specific priorities, projects, and investments for the first five years of each TIF District.
Engagement Opportunities
- Engage directly with project staff:
- Email us
- invite us to attend, or present at, a meeting for your organization
- Engage with the East Portland TIF Community Project Manager:
- Email Paula
- Attend office hours held at the Rosewood Initiative (14127 SE Stark St, Portland OR, 97233) every 2nd and 4th Tuesday & Wednesday from 10:00am-3:00pm
- Check this page periodically for information on upcoming open houses and/or focus groups.
- Complete this survey to provide feedback and input (English)
Community Leadership Committee
A Community Leadership Committee (CLC) will provide guidance and oversite on implementation of the East Portland TIF District Plans. The groups will convene in 2025 and begin work developing district action plans, which will identify specific investments for a five-year period.
CLC meetings are open to the public and will include a period for public comment. Committee meeting dates, as well as notice of additional engagement opportunities will be posted here when available.
Project Documents
Meetings
Frequently Asked Questions
TIF is a state-authorized, redevelopment and finance program designed to help communities improve and redevelop areas that are physically deteriorated, suffering economic stagnation, unsafe or poorly planned. In short, it’s intended to leverage public resources (in the form of tax funds) for re-investment in the community.
Prosper Portland’s use of TIF resources has been progressive. TIF has supported Action Plans in Old Town, North/Northeast, Gateway, and Lents with goals like affordable commercial tenanting and investments that align with the agency’s strategic goals for healthy neighborhoods and widely shared prosperity.
In 2011, the creation of the Neighborhood Prosperity Network employed a community-city partnership to build capacity for community-specific economic development. The shift in TIF usage also redirected focus toward low-income populations and communities of color. However, these NPN districts are small and limited in duration, generating very modest tax increment finance revenue over a decade. The Cully TIF District area contains two NPNs, Our 42nd Avenue and Cully Boulevard Alliance. The East Portland exploration area contains four NPNs: Rosewood Initiative, Division-Midway Alliance, Historic Parkrose, and the Jade District.
The newest TIF district in Cully will bring new resources to help stabilize Cully residents and businesses vulnerable to displacement, so they can stay and benefit from the prosperity that inevitable growth can bring, rather than be pushed out and replaced by it. The Plan was created using a co-creation model and the process was community-led. A new Cully Community Leadership Committee will guide decision-making related to the use of TIF funds for the life of the district.
Tax Increment Financing (TIF) is a funding strategy designed to make strategic investments in housing and economic development to stabilize communities and businesses within a designated geographic area. Assuming those investments increase overall property values and associated taxes over time, TIF allows the City to essentially freeze taxes in this area and capture the increase to fund improvements over 20-30 years that will result in increased district wealth and tax revenues.
When a TIF district is created, the existing property tax revenue from the designated area is split into two parts:
- Frozen Base: Continues to go to the taxing jurisdictions, such as the City of Portland, Multnomah County, and Portland Public Schools.
- Increment: As property values increase over time from new commercial buildings, housing development, gathering spaces or other projects, or from appreciation, the increment goes to Prosper Portland for reinvestment in the district.
In general, TIF captures increases in tax revenue without any change in tax rates. Prosper Portland and the Portland Housing Bureau will receive funds from increases in property value that would otherwise go to taxing jurisdictions. This revenue includes up to 3% per year for existing properties plus any additional value from new development. Prosper Portland and the Portland Housing Bureau will use those resources to pay for public improvements. The City and community committee work together to set 5-year action plans to determine priorities and investments in affordable housing, home repairs, community amenities, commercial spaces for local businesses, or other eligible projects.
In most cases, the result will be that Prosper Portland and PHB will collect taxes that would have otherwise gone to the City of Portland, Multnomah County, and other taxing jurisdictions, not an increase in taxes (see the graph below for information on how TIF revenue is captured).
However, the Fire and Police Disability and Retirement Fund (FPD&R) Plan is required to be fully funded. This requirement means that tax collections must be enough to provide both the amount requested for the FPD&R Plan and for TIF plans. Taxpayers pay an additional amount of taxes for this levy as a result of how taxes are assessed and collected throughout the city. For example, the additional tax rate for the FPD&R Plan for the Cully TIF District is an estimated $0.0014 per $1,000 of assessed value in the first year of the plan, resulting in an extra $0.70 in taxes for a homeowner whose house has an assessed value of $500,000. The FPD&R rate will vary over time depending on the requirements of the plan in any given year compared to total taxable assessed value available to calculate the rate.
- The development of Gateway Discovery Park and the adjacent The Nick Fish mixed-use housing project were collaborative, multi-partner, community-driven efforts involving considerable engagement with neighborhood businesses and community members.
- The North/Northeast Action Plan Leadership Committee works in partnership with Prosper Portland to implement the Action Plan for the N/NE Community Development Initiative for economic development in the N/NE Interstate Corridor. The Initiative has focused on TIF-eligible, “bricks & mortar” development projects and prioritizes non-TIF investments that support Initiative goals, such as business technical assistance. The committee leads with a focus on engagement with communities of color; supports partnerships with community-based organizations and leaders; provides recommendations on Action Plan direction and investment priorities; identifies service providers to advise on Action Plan implementation; assesses progress; and makes recommendations to improve impact.
Fund distribution will be handled with transparency and will follow the District Plan priorities, whether through a public and competitive process or in the case of loans or grants, by using program guidelines adopted by the Prosper Portland board and reported on to the public.
If TIF exploration results in the creation of a TIF district, accountability is multi-layered: to City Council, the community, the TIF plan and Five-Year Action Plan, budget advisory committee, our auditors, and indirectly, the district’s bond holders. Prosper Portland is responsible for distributing the funds and administering TIF districts for the City of Portland. A TIF proposal must be approved by City Council.
No, TIF uses existing real estate taxes already being paid to invest back into the community.
The Cully TIF Plan takes a targeted universalism approach. Targeted universalism means setting universal goals for a community and then developing strategies to achieve those goals, based upon how different groups are situated within society. By focusing energy on those farthest from the goal, we move the entire community closer to the goal.
The Cully TIF Plan aims to stabilize Cully residents and ensure the neighborhood provides a sense of belonging for everyone. To move the community toward this goal, energy must be spent on those historically marginalized, made invisible, or most at risk of displacement. The definition of “Priority Communities” in Cully was developed in collaboration with partners representing those communities, and explicitly states who is intended to most benefit from Cully TIF resources.
For reference, the Cully definition is below; East Portland TIF exploration may rely on this definition, or tailor it to better match their unique communities.
“Priority Communities” refers to the intended beneficiaries of the Cully TIF District: African American and Black persons; Indigenous and Native American persons; persons of color; immigrants and refugees of any legal status; renters; mobile home residents; persons with disabilities; low-income people; houseless people; and other population groups that are systemically vulnerable to exclusion from Cully due to gentrification and displacement.
No. We are intentionally not using TIF in the traditional way but rather to stabilize residents most vulnerable to displacement as continued growth and increasing property values inevitably come to the area. A stabilization-focused TIF District won’t stop growth and density from coming. Instead, as growth comes, we want to ensure folks can stay and benefit from the prosperity that growth can bring, rather than be pushed out and replaced by it.