By Lydia Hallay, November 29, 2025
My Give!Guide Picks This Year
Every winter, Willamette Week’s Give!Guide shows up and reminds me how much good is moving through this city — the quiet work that tends to the heart of Portland. The kind that doesn’t make headlines, but absolutely makes a difference.
Here are three nonprofits I’m supporting this year, whose missions reflect values I hold close: housing stability, racial equity, and support for immigrant and refugee communities. These are organizations doing the essential, everyday work of strengthening the fabric of our city: Taking Ownership PDX, Impact NW, and Immigration Counseling Service.
Here’s why their work matters — and why you should consider supporting them through the 2025 Give!Guide.
🌱 Taking Ownership PDX
Housing justice. Community repair. Supporting Black homeowners in a system that hasn’t served them equally.
Taking Ownership partners with Black homeowners who are facing displacement, rising costs, or homes needing major repairs. Their work is hands-on and deeply rooted in equity — stabilizing families, preserving generational wealth, and helping long-time Portlanders stay in their neighborhoods.
As a white person working in real estate, I’m part of an industry that has historically contributed to racial inequity in housing — through policy, lending, zoning, and daily practice. I can’t rewrite that history, but I can take responsibility for where my resources go, who I uplift, and what kind of Portland I help shape.
Supporting Taking Ownership is one small, concrete way I do that.
My teammates Megan, Margo and I each donate a portion of every commission to Taking Ownership, which has added up to over $7,000 so far this year — a number made possible because of the clients who trust us with their home journeys.
▶️ Learn more & donate through Give!Guide.
🧡 Impact NW
Meeting basic needs so families can stay housed, warm, and connected.
Impact NW has been a quiet backbone in Portland for decades. They help families and seniors stay stable during moments that could otherwise unravel — a missed paycheck, a medical bill, a cold snap. Their work often determines whether someone stays housed or loses their footing entirely.
This month, we’re collecting new (tags on) coats in all sizes, from infant to adult: Raincoats, jackets, and winter coats at the Living Room Realty Office. Warm coats might seem small, but for someone heading into winter without one, it’s everything. This is the kind of neighborly care I believe in.
Drop off your new coats of all sizes at 421 SE 10th Ave. between 9-5pm, Monday-Friday through December 16th.
▶️ Learn more & donate through Give!Guide.
🌎 Immigration Counseling Service (ICS)
Legal access and stability for immigrants, refugees, and asylum seekers facing an increasingly hostile system.
ICS provides affordable, culturally grounded immigration legal services for immigrants, refugees, and asylum seekers — people who are often navigating an overwhelming, high-stakes process in a country that doesn’t make it easy to stay safe or stay together.
Right now, ICE continues to detain people abruptly, separate families, and fast-track deportation cases without adequate representation. For many immigrants in Portland, having a lawyer is the difference between staying with their family or being removed from the country they’ve built a life in.
ICS meets people in those moments of fear and uncertainty and offers clarity, protection, and a path forward. Their work is steady, humane, and essential. I’m donating $500 to ICS through the Give!Guide to help bolster this essential support.
▶️ Learn more & donate through Give!Guide.
Why These Groups?
Because they’re doing the kind of work that strengthens the Portland I want to live in — a Portland rooted in care, equity, and community.
These organizations show up every day in big and small ways: stabilizing families, keeping neighbors warm, and helping new Portlanders feel safe and welcomed. I’m honored to support them, and I’d love for you to join me if you’re able.
Here’s to a more cared-for Portland- where neighbors look out for neighbors.✨❤️
Lydia Hallay
Principal Broker | OR
She/They
Calm, prepared, and people-first—Lydia brings a steady presence to what can be a high-stress process.
As a licensed Principal Broker, she leads Ello, a collaborative team within Living Room Realty known for its neighborly approach to real estate. Ello works with buyers and sellers who value thoughtful strategy, good design, and clear communication.
Lydia is consistently top-rated and ranked among the top 150 agents in the city, and is known for listings that sell faster than average (often with multiple offers), with distinctive, design-forward marketing that stops buyers in their scroll.Before real estate, Lydia spent 17 years as a union organizer and negotiator, advocating for worker rights, leading large-scale strategic leverage campaigns, and navigating complex contracts. That background shows up in her work today: calm under pressure, sharp in negotiations, and deeply attuned to the human side of big decisions.
With roots in the Sonoran Desert (she owns a vacation rental in Tucson), Lydia is an avid gardener, a devoted fan of Portland's food & small business scene, and loves hunting for secondhand/vintage gems. Lydia & her spouse (a longtime restauranteur & golf nerd) enjoy taking their vintage camper (named Puff the Magic Eurovan) for mini adventures. They live in a midcentury home in SE Portland with their dog (Maybelle) and two cats (Kenny & Caroline).
A lifelong advocate for social, economic, and housing justice, Lydia supports organizations doing on-the-ground work in the community. A portion of every paycheck she earns is donated to Taking Ownership PDX, which helps Black homeowners age in place and build wealth.
- T: 503-807-0156
- lydiah@livingroomre.com
