Medford, Ore.– Local experts say Oregon is in an affordable housing crisis. The state’s current vacancy rate is at a mere 3.5%, about half of the national average. “It took me a year to get into affordable housing,” says Meagan Hadley, a recovering addict who has experienced bouts of homelessness.
U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., said rising house prices and rental costs, plus an extremely low rental vacancy rate, are contributing to an affordable housing crisis in Southern Oregon and across the state. “Families are just being absolutely squeezed as a result,” said Merkley, who met with local housing experts
Sen. Jeff Merkley leaned over the armrest of the white SUV he drove east on Interstate 84, recounting the story of how the Columbia Gorge was formed. Fifteen thousand years ago, cataclysmic floods broke the banks of the river, washing them downstream. Every year since, salmon make their way upstream
PORTLAND, Ore. — When you see new building in Portland remember this: Advocates say the city needs an estimated 100,000 more affordable housing units. And most of what you see is not that. Over the last few years, 22,000 new apartments were built in the Portland area, but only 3
Oregon’s marijuana businessmen and women find themselves in a pickle where banking is concerned. What they do is legal in Oregon, Washington, Colorado, Alaska and the District of Columbia, though it’s still illegal under federal law. That makes it difficult — impossible, really — to do things that most business
Jeff Merkley is trying to accomplish what the failed Oregon GMO labeling measure set out to do. The Democratic senator introduced a bill in the U.S. Senate that would require companies to label whether food contains genetically-engineered ingredients. Oregon voters were almost evenly split in 2014 on support for Measure
Oregon’s two U.S. senators have called for bolstered federal air quality funding after Portlanders expressed concerns about recently uncovered issues. Senators Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley want about $50 million more in funds for the Environmental Protection Agency. The money would allow for more air pollutant monitoring as well as technical assistance for companies
A federal program that funnels money to roads and schools in rural parts of the country will send around $3.8 million to Central Oregon this year, a number that has steadily declined in recent years. The fund will send more than $1.6 million each to Deschutes and Crook counties and
A federal program that funnels money to roads and schools in rural parts of the country will send around $3.8 million to Central Oregon this year, a number that has steadily declined in recent years. The fund will send more than $1.6 million each to Deschutes and Crook counties and
As shareholder activism reaches unprecedented levels Democrats are taking aim at a new Wall Street target—activist investors. A new bill sponsored by two Senate Democrats, which would tighten disclosure rules for activists, comes at a time when shareholder activism is at an all-time high. The proposed legislation, sponsored by Wisconsin
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