How Can 955 Home Forward Units Sit Empty When 7,500 People Are Sleeping Outside?

Last week, WW revealed that Home Forward, the city’s housing authority that serves Multnomah County, owns 955 affordable housing units that sit vacant. That’s about 1 in every 7 units that Home Forward owns.

A recent report by the real estate firm CoStar estimated that the vacancy rate across the 25,000 total affordable units in the city hovers around 7%—equivalent to 1,900 units. If CoStar’s estimates are right, that means half of the city’s vacant affordable units are owned by Home Forward.

With an operating budget of around $290 million annually, Home Forward provides a number of services and functions: It distributes federal Section 8 housing vouchers to low-income families, it builds affordable housing using public dollars from sources like the state and local housing bonds, and i