PORTLAND, Ore. — Oregon's new Governor Tina Kotek has passed the 100-day milestone with a slew of action on tackling the state's housing and homelessness crises, expanding the state's capacity for the semiconductor industry and trying to hear from people in all corners of the state. She said she plans to keep up that work in the next 100 days and beyond.
Governor Kotek recently signed a set of bills that would allocate $200 million dollars toward addressing homelessness. $155 million of that money, the governor said, is going directly to communities across Oregon to prevent homelessness, to expand shelter capacity and re-house people who are currently in shelters.
By the end of the year, she wants to add 600 new shelter beds and re-house 1,200 people, and money from the two bills will go directly toward that effort.
"No matter how daunting this problem is, there is a pathway to get people from the streets, from the shelter, into homes," Gov. Kotek said. "We have to be absolutely focused on doing that."
Gov. Kotek also has a new superpower, granted to her by the legislature, to expand parts of Oregon's urban growth boundary in order to accommodate the semiconductor industry, which needs large plots of land to operate. She said she will use that power wisely, first looking to see what existing plots of land can be used before expanding into farmland.
"If we need a larger plot, we're going to have a very good conversation before we do anything that could affect our farmland," Gov. Kotek said.
But she emphasized that Oregon deserves to remain a leader in the semiconductor industry:
"We have 15% of the national workforce in the semiconductor industry today. We are well-positioned — we have lots of assets here. This is Silicon Forest."
As for the rest of the state, Kotek said she wants to keep hearing from people all over, continuing her listening tour in which she plans to visit every county by the end of the year.
Many people in eastern Oregon say they feel overlooked by state leaders — so much so that some of them want eastern Oregon to join Idaho. While the movement that is a longshot, it has gained significant momentum in the past year.
"I see this as a family dispute," Kotek said. "We are one family here in Oregon, but we're not listening to each other very well. My job as governor is to hear you and figure out what I can do differently. Because if the state's not working for every part of the state, it's not working."
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