Attention displaced and cost-burdened Portlanders: One of your own just might run for City Council.
Chloe Eudaly, longtime owner of independent bookstore Reading Frenzy, says she's not yet ready to make it official, but that after being encouraged by dozens of people, she's deciding whether to toss her hat in the ring with the other candidates vying for Commissioner Steve Novick's seat.
Eudaly has long been an outspoken advocate for people with disabilities, but after being on the losing end of one no-cause eviction and one exorbitant rent increase that ended up being a de facto eviction, Eudaly began speaking out as an affordable housing advocate.
"Affordable housing is definitely my priority as it is with the majority of Portland residents... I want to see the bans on [mandatory inclusionary zoning] and rent control overturned so that municipalities have all available tools at hand should they choose to use them," Eudaly says. "Half of Portland residents are renters, and half of renters are cost-burdened—that's 150,000 people and counting and that's just in Portland alone."
Eudaly would also like to see City Hall increase protections for renters above the measures they enacted in September.
"The extra 30 to 60 days notice for rent increases and no-cause evictions are not enough, especially not for the 75,000 or so renters who are extremely low income," Eudaly says. "These renters tend to be seniors, people with disabilities, and people earning minimum wage. As housing costs rise, more and more people are slipping into this group and forced to make hard and potentially harmful choices... and there is too often nowhere for them to go, as we are witnessing from our rising homeless population.
In February 2015, Eudaly started a Facebook group called "That's a Goddamned Shed" (now affectionately referred to as just "The Shed" by members, who are called "Shedizens"). Eudaly created The Shed after seeing this Craigslist ad (partial screen capture to leave out any identifying information):
Eudaly says that when she first saw the ad for the purple shed listed as an accessory dwelling unit, her friend quipped, "'That's a goddamned shed,' and made a hilarious fake ad for a beehive."
Since starting The Shed, Eudaly and the 2,000 strong group of Shedizens have been busy. Shedizens have staged rallies, organized to help tenants in crisis, and acted as a policing group for Craigslist posters advertising other sheds—many of which were illegal, had identifiable code violations, or violated the Fair Housing Act—for rent in the Portland area.
Eudaly says she's "feeling optimistic" but isn't ready to make a concrete decision. She says she's considered a run for public office before, but thought she'd get her "ducks in a row" and shoot for a bid in 2020. She says she now realizes that the issues she cares about "just cannot wait four more years."
In November, Eudaly sat on a panel at the Secret Knowledge Conference. She says that during the conference she bumped into a friend who works at Portland City Hall. When she told him she'd been getting encouragement from others to run for office, he agreed.
"That was the turning point in the conversation," Eudaly says. "What does make an attorney or medical professional more qualified than a business owner? I mean, we elected a barkeeper Mayor, [so] a bookseller for council doesn't seems so far fetched."
Eudaly says that until that conversation, she didn't think she could run, and win, elected office.
"Now I'm hoping that, win or lose, I can inspire more people like me to get involved," she says. "I know from my experience of starting two businesses and co-founding two non-profits that there are few things more satisfying than turning an idea into reality and watching people enjoy and benefit from it. Just think what that could look like on a city wide scale."
