How well do you know your neighbors? Portlanders have a reputation for being a little standoffish, yet most of us would probably notice if the guy down the hall opened up a fentanyl market. A better question: How well does your landlord know your neighbors? The Portland housing authority, Home Forward, forbids or limits its property managers from considering a range of felony convictions when screening tenants. Could this policy have contributed to an open-air drug den relocating from Dawson Park to a low-income apartment complex nearby (“Parkside Living,” WW, Feb. 4)? Our readers sure think so. Here’s what they had to say:
Kat2211, via Reddit: “In other words, they’ve decided that the rights of ALL tenants to live in safe, secure, clean housing run a distant second to virtue signaling. Never mind the fact that the disparity they SHOULD be focusing on is that between low-income tenants in general and those who are well off enough to be able to afford housing in buildings that aren’t serving as open-air drug markets and havens for violent individuals.
“If they actually want to make a difference, they need to prioritize upholding the basic rights of ALL their tenants. If they can’t do that, they need to be shut down.”…