Commissioner Fish is leading a delegation of housing folks up to Seattle for a two-day trip to learn from the city's best and brightest affordable housing experts.

In lean economic times, and with further cuts looming, Seattle is a great model for a city like Portland looking for ways to develop new resources and improve our best practices for housing and homeless services.

Israel Bayer, Director of Street Roots newspaper, is among the group - he's planning a longer piece about the trip for the March 18 issue of the paper.

He joins City and County staff, Portland Housing Bureau Director Margaret Van Vliet, senior PHB staff, and community partners.

Thanks very much to flickr user Ian Broyles for the photo