“As we prepare for a new light rail line along Barbur Boulevard, immigrants and vulnerable communities must not be displaced.

Imagine you had traveled thousands of miles to get here, all your belongings with you. You searched for people familiar with your culture and found a community in SW Portland with a place to worship and a grocery store that reminds you of home. You live in an apartment building full of people who speak your language, dress like you and worship the same way. Your children are comfortable in their local school. You scrimp to pay the rent, but you’re willing to live with others to make ends meet.

Then, your apartment building is sold, and you and your neighbors are evicted, your family is uprooted, your children have to say goodbye to friends, and you don’t have enough savings to pay first and last month’s rent in a different, more expensive apartment building down the road … farther away from your place of worship with friends and community.

Some version of this has been the reality for many of Portland’s communities of refugees and immigrants for generations. But, who knew the risk of displacement could be so high in Southwest Portland?” Click here to continue reading.