The Native American Youth and Family Center of Portland announced today it is building an innovative, nine-unit housing project for low-income Native Americans.

The project, called Kah San Chako Haws, or East House, will be built in Portland's Lents neighborhood at 9707 SE Holgate Blvd. A ground-breaking ceremony is planned at the site for 4 p.m. today.

The housing will be built to top environmental standards. It will be added to the Native American group's portfolio of 44 housing units for low-income Native American individuals and families, including seven units for foster care youth and survivors of domestic violence.

"We are so proud to be part of a larger city-wide initiative to increase housing opportunities for Native Americans, the poorest ethnic group in Multnomah County," said Nichole Maher, executive director of the family center, also known as NAYA.

Nearly 40,000 people who identify as solely or part Native American live in the Portland area, including Clark County, Wash., according to the 2010 Census. About a third of them, and 45 percent of their children, live in poverty, as do nearly all single Native American mothers with young children.

The median annual income in 2009 for Native Americans in Multnomah County was $14,597 compared to $32,740 for whites, according to a report called "An Unsettling Profile" released late last year by NAYA, Portland State University and the Coalition of Communities of Color. Estimates of Native American unemployment in the county ranged from 14 percent to 38 percent.

The Portland Housing Bureau, Meyer Memorial Trust, Home Forward, One Pacific Coast Bank and Oregon Housing and Community Services are partners on the project. Walsh Construction Co. is the general contractor.

-- Bill Graves