A Portland suburb is poised to lose one-fifth of its affordable housing. Experts say it’s the tip of the iceberg.
“Heidi Johnstone, 61, has spent the last decade pushed around the city of Tigard by a wave of ever-rising rent. Johnstone moved to the Portland suburb in 2009 in search of someplace cheaper than her home city of Los Angeles. She fell in love with a $737-a-month two-bedroom atop a hill with a sweeping view of the Willamette Valley. When rents started to rise a few years later, she moved to a new apartment two miles north. By 2019, the rent had nearly doubled to $1,457. Once again, Johnstone broke out the moving boxes.”