美国国家公共电台 NPR--Why homeless organizations in Oregon are becoming landlords

Why homeless organizations in Oregon are becoming landlords

Transcript¹

In Portland, some nonprofits are borrowing an idea used in commercial real estate. Through master leasing, organizations support people who are unhoused by acting² like their landlord.

RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:

Many cities are seeing a dramatic increase in homelessness. To answer the crisis, advocates in Portland, Ore., are turning to a strategy used in commercial real estate. Tiffany Camhi from Oregon Public Broadcasting explains.

TIFFANY CAMHI, BYLINE³: Even though he gets a steady Social Security check and works part-time selling newspapers, Marlon Crump still can't afford the average Portland rent. That's in part why he was homeless for the better part of a decade. So when he found an apartment for $475 a month, it was a game changer.

MARLON CRUMP: I saw the nice room, and I was like, wow, very nice. Yeah, I think I could live here.

CAMHI: Crump pays about a thousand dollars less than the market average for this place. He's lived here for the past two years. It's part of a program run by a local nonprofit. His home is one of 11 in this apartment building. Common areas are shared - kitchen, living room. The laundry is right next to his bedroom.

CRUMP: We have two showers, and we have two bathroom facilities right here. This is my room right here, personally.

CAMHI: No. 5?

CRUMP: Yes, No. 5. This is me.

LIZ WEBER: Every neighborhood in Portland is unaffordable for most communities of color.

CAMHI: Liz Weber is with the nonprofit that runs this program, called JOIN. She says the rental⁵ market in Portland is too competitive for people trying to get out of homelessness, which disproportionately impacts people of color.

WEBER: And so master leasing was absolutely a response to increasing rents.

CAMHI: Master leasing - it's similar to using a property management company by adding another party into a landlord-tenant relationship. In this case, the nonprofit vets⁶ tenants⁷, collects deposits, does property maintenance and it subsidizes some rent with money from philanthropic fundraising.

STEVE BERG: It's very helpful for somebody who's been on the street.

CAMHI: Steve Berg is with the National Alliance to End Homelessness. He says people looking for housing don't have to worry as much about things like a bad credit score. Nonprofits are just more understanding than a typical landlord.

BERG: Trying to engage in a transactional relationship with a landlord is just asking a little much.

CAMHI: Master leasing has been around for decades. Cities across the U.S. adopted these programs amid the pandemic and rising homelessness. The Department of Housing and Urban Development released best practices guidance on it last year.

But some programs in other parts of the country have become notorious for their unlivable conditions. Lauren Hall leads a housing nonprofit in San Francisco.

LAUREN HALL: I think what we saw in the early days of master leasing here were sort of agreements that didn't really anticipate the true cost of operating the housing.

CAMHI: Hall says not all nonprofits are ready to be good landlords. Some organizations don't have the staff to do things like fix appliances or patch walls. They're already busy supporting people transitioning from homelessness.

Back in Portland, Marlon Crump says he doesn't plan on leaving his living situation any time soon.

CRUMP: How easy is it for anybody to get affordable⁴ housing these days when things are always rising up? So unless I come into some kind of mysterious inheritance, I'm going to be here for a while.

CAMHI: And that's OK. People could stay here forever. For this program, the next challenge is finding the money to scale it up and make more places where people want to live.

For NPR News, I'm Tiffany Camhi in Portland.

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1 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

2 acting   

n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的

参考例句：

• Ignore her,she's just acting.别理她，她只是假装的。
• During the seventies,her acting career was in eclipse.在七十年代，她的表演生涯黯然失色。

3 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

4 affordable   

adj.支付得起的，不太昂贵的

参考例句：

• The rent for the four-roomed house is affordable.四居室房屋的房租付得起。
• There are few affordable apartments in big cities.在大城市中没有几所公寓是便宜的。

5 rental   

n.租赁，出租，出租业

参考例句：

• The yearly rental of her house is 2400 yuan.她这房子年租金是2400元。
• We can organise car rental from Chicago O'Hare Airport.我们可以安排提供从芝加哥奥黑尔机场出发的租车服务。

6 vets   

abbr.veterans （复数）老手，退伍军人；veterinaries （复数）兽医n.兽医( vet的名词复数 )；老兵；退伍军人；兽医诊所v.审查（某人过去的记录、资格等）( vet的第三人称单数 )；调查；检查；诊疗

参考例句：

• I helped train many young vets and veterinary nurses too. 我还帮助培训了许多年青的兽医和护士。 来自互联网
• In fact, we've expanded mental health counseling and services for our vets. 实际上，我们已经扩大了退伍军人的心理健康咨询和服务。 来自互联网

7 tenants   

n.房客( tenant的名词复数 )；佃户；占用者；占有者

参考例句：

• A number of tenants have been evicted for not paying the rent. 许多房客因不付房租被赶了出来。
• Tenants are jointly and severally liable for payment of the rent. 租金由承租人共同且分别承担。