Housing Aid Offered to Stop Enrollment Decline

In an unusual bid to stem the enrollment decline that has cost the Portland, Ore., school system millions of dollars, the city of Portland has launched a program to help families with housing costs so they can afford to rent or buy homes and—city officials hope—send their children to city schools.

National experts hailed Portland’s plan for the way it explicitly joins two issues: high urban housing costs and declines in school enrollment.

“If the city of Portland is successful, this strategy could be become a model for other jurisdictions,” said Beverly Barnes, the executive director of Homes for Working Families, a Washington-based nonprofit group that advocates policies enabling more...