Las Adelitas Apartments

Las Adelitas Apartments
Point of Contact		Las Adelitas is a community-based development
Participating Municipalities
City of Portland Multnomah County
Sectors		Team Organizations
Housing Community Development Anti-Displacement Urban Renewal Youth Services		Hacienda CDC Salazar Architect LMC Construction Cascadia Behavioral Healthcare Familias En Acción Living Cully Native American Youth and Family Center Habitat for Humanity Portland Region Verde Cully Boulevard Alliance Cully Association of Neighbors Prosper Portland
Project Description
Brief Description	Provides 142 affordable homes with family amenities, supportive housing, and transforms a former strip club.
Problem Statement/Need	The Las Adelitas Apartments were developed to directly mitigate the effects of rising rents on families, and the inevitable displacement and gentrification within Portland's Cully neighborhood. The Portland metro area faces a severe housing crisis, with a need for 30,000 low-income housing units, leading to long waitlists for available properties. Renters often pay a significant portion of their income towards rent, making it difficult to afford a two-bedroom apartment in Multnomah County, where someone earning minimum wage would need to work 87 hours a week. Development and gentrification pressures are intensifying in Cully, creating an urgent need for community-led investments to combat displacement, which disproportionately affects low-income and Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) individuals. The existing scale of anti-displacement efforts is insufficient, threatening the neighborhood's vision of community prosperity as rising rents push out lower-income families and BIPOC residents.
Goals and Objectives	The primary goal of Las Adelitas is to provide much-needed homes for low-income families, homeless individuals, working families, and people of color in Cully. It aims to ensure that Cully remains a place where low-income people and BIPOC individuals can continue to live and thrive. This is part of a broader vision for the Cully Tax Increment Financing (TIF) District, which seeks to transform Cully into a place where all residents, particularly "Priority Communities" (African American and Black persons; Indigenous and Native American persons; persons of color; immigrants and refugees; renters; mobile home residents; persons with disabilities; low-income people; houseless people; and other systemically vulnerable groups), enjoy stable housing, economic opportunities, and participate in decisions affecting their communities. The project aligns with goals to prevent displacement, preserve and expand affordable housing and economic opportunities, and ensure current residents benefit from neighborhood change. Creating better housing in communities of color is also seen as a way to foster safer and healthier communities.
Detailed Description	Las Adelitas is a four-story building with 142 units. The units offer a mix of 15 studio, 29 one-bedroom, 71 two-bedroom, and 26 three-bedroom apartments. Of these, 141 are regulated affordable units, with one manager's unit. A significant portion of the units are designated for very low-income households: 55 units are for those earning below 30% of the Area Median Income (AMI), and 86 units are for those at 60% AMI. Additionally, 18 units are designated as Permanent Supportive Housing (PSH). The complex features a playground for children, an event hall, a classroom space dedicated to Hacienda’s Portland Niños program (for children aged 0-5), a central plaza, and open space for community gathering and play. The project transformed the site of a former "notorious" strip club, the "Sugar Shack," into a community asset.
Location/Scope	Focused within the Cully Tax Increment Financing (TIF) District, Northeast Portland. Specifically, Las Adelitas Apartments are located in Northeast Portland's Cully neighborhood on the site of a former strip club that was torn down in 2018. Cully is identified as one of Portland's largest and most racially and ethnically diverse neighborhoods, known for its strong community and a blend of rural and urban characteristics.
Estimated Costs	$58,381,000€ 51,375,280 <br />£ 43,201,940 <br />CA$ 74,143,870 <br />CNY 369,551,730 <br />KRW 71,542,996.45 <br />
Implementation Plan	The project was conceived and implemented through a community-led process, involving the purchase and rehabilitation of the former strip club site by community efforts. Hacienda CDC served as the sponsor and led the construction with Salazar Architect and LMC as key development partners. Hacienda CDC provides on-site resident services focused on youth and family support, as well as housing and economic stability. For the Permanent Supportive Housing (PSH) units, Cascadia Behavioral Healthcare provides support services. Las Adelitas is an "early investment" within the Cully Tax Increment Financing (TIF) District, which officially established a new TIF model in November 2022 to center historically underserved voices and prevent displacement.
Community Benefit	Las Adelitas provides much-needed affordable homes for low-income families, homeless individuals, working families, and people of color, directly addressing the housing crisis and gentrification pressures in Cully. It transforms a "notorious" site (the "Sugar Shack" strip club, associated with crime and exploitation of women) into a valuable community asset that the Cully community can "truly rally around and be proud of". The project includes on-site resident services, a classroom for a youth program (Portland Niños), an event hall, and community gathering spaces, fostering community well-being and stability. It serves as an "early investment" in the Cully TIF District, demonstrating a scalable model for anti-displacement efforts and ensuring Priority Communities can stay and thrive in their neighborhood. The development also contributes to creating safer and healthier communities in communities of color.
Budget & Funding
Participatory Budget Allocation	$15,020,934€ 13,218,421.92 <br />£ 11,115,491.16 <br />CA$ 19,076,586.18 <br />CNY 95,082,512.22 <br />KRW 18,407,403.57 <br />	The Portland Housing Bureau contributed $15,020,934 to its development.
Feasibility	High	Despite initial concerns brought on by the coronavirus pandemic regarding applications, decisions, and investor trust, the project successfully moved forward to groundbreaking and opening. Its completion demonstrates high feasibility, and its alignment as an "early investment" in the Cully TIF District shows it was deemed feasible within a broader, community-backed development strategy aimed at preventing displacement.
Funding Alignment	High	The project is strongly aligned with the goals of the Cully TIF District and Portland Housing Bureau, which prioritize preventing displacement and increasing affordable housing and economic opportunities for "Priority Communities". The TIF Set-Aside Policy mandates that at least 45% of all TIF resources be allocated for affordable housing. Las Adelitas' focus on low-income families and Permanent Supportive Housing units directly serves this mandate.
Community Engagement
Proposed Engagement Activities	The Las Adelitas project is described as a "community-based development" directly stemming from community efforts, including the collective purchase and rehabilitation of the site. The broader Cully Tax Increment Financing (TIF) District, under which Las Adelitas serves as an early project, involved an extensive community engagement process during 2019-2022. This process was led by the Cully TIF Exploration Leadership Committee (ELC), which included seven community-based organizations with strong roots in Cully. Engagement included 48 focus groups and workshop meetings with a total of 500 participants, and two online surveys that received a total of 389 responses. The process was iterative, with three distinct phases that informed the TIF District Plan, Governance Charter, and other proposals.
Targeted Outreach	The community engagement process explicitly sought to center the voices and priorities of people and groups structurally vulnerable to displacement and exclusion from Cully. This included Black people, Indigenous people, people of color, renters, mobile home residents, low-income people, and small business owners and workers. Focus groups were convened specifically with African American, Indigenous and tribal, Latinx, Somali, low-income homeowners, houseless, private market renters, mobile home park residents, and small business owners/workers communities.
Inclusivity Measures	The project directly serves "Priority Communities" defined as African American and Black persons; Indigenous and Native American persons; persons of color; immigrants and refugees; renters; mobile home residents; persons with disabilities; low-income people; and houseless people. Las Adelitas includes Permanent Supportive Housing units (18 units) and a significant number of units (55) for those earning below 30% AMI, directly serving very low-income and vulnerable populations. Hacienda CDC, the developer, historically serves Latino and other immigrant families, with 85% of its tenants being Latino. The project also includes on-site services like the Portland Niños program for young children and general youth/family support. The Cully TIF's guiding principles, which Las Adelitas exemplifies, advocate for removing barriers to TIF-funded opportunities based on immigration status, credit history, legal history, rental history, eviction history, and experience of domestic violence.
Evaluation & Monitoring
Success Measurement	While specific success measurements for Las Adelitas were not detailed, it directly contributes to the overarching goals of the Cully TIF District Plan, which aims to transform Cully into a place where "Priority Communities" enjoy stable housing and economic opportunities, preventing gentrification and displacement. Success is also measured by the project's contribution to the number of affordable units created (141 regulated units) and the transformation of a problematic site into a community asset. The broader TIF plan's accountability process ensures investments match community priorities and plan goals.
Follow-up with Participants	Ongoing guidance and oversight for the Cully TIF District Plan implementation is provided by the Community Leadership Committee (CLC), which includes community members and is open to the public. Hacienda CDC also provides on-site resident services focused on youth and family support and housing/economic stability for the long term.
Geospatial Data
Project Location	Loading map...
Voter Turnout Data
Turnout		Voter turnout data specific to the approval of the Cully TIF District or directly related to Las Adelitas was not provided.
White African American Asian Low Income	65% 7% 28% 99.3%	Cully TIF District proposal was unanimously adopted by Portland City Council in November 2022.
Milestones
3/12/2021 - Groundbreaking Ceremony 12/31/2022 - Construction Completion

March 12, 2021

Groundbreaking Ceremony

December 31, 2022

Construction Completion