SALEM, Ore. — Pretty much every expert you ask will tell you that there are not enough homes or apartments in Oregon, which drives up the price of everything. This year, Gov. Tina Kotek said attacking that problem is a big priority for her, and now, the Oregon Legislative is delivering.
As of Monday, the Oregon House passed a pair of housing bills that are aimed at addressing the state's housing and homelessness crisis, including one that Gov. Tina Kotek herself introduced in this year's legislative session, Senate Bill 1537.
Lawmakers voted 48-8 to pass SB 1537, which would fund a series of programs to help local governments overcome barriers that can derail low-income housing projects, like lack of land supply or challenges in building water and sewer services.
SB 1537's beginning
Kotek had testified in support of the bill at a public hearing before the Senate Committee on Housing and Development in the beginning of this year's short session, with her office also issuing a press release that touted a lengthy list of housing nonprofits, developers and advocacy groups that have endorsed the measure.
At the hearing, Kotek's housing policy advisor Matthew Tschabold said that the state currently has a deficit of 140,000 units and needs to produce 440,000 units over the next 20 years to both catch up and meet its future needs. Thus, the target is a sustained pace of roughly 36,000 new units permitted each year — almost double what the state is producing right now.
A major component of the bill was a series of programs to provide financial assistance to help local governments overcome various roadblocks, including lack of available land or difficulties building infrastructure like water and sewer service to support new housing.
The overall intent was to increase flexibility to Oregon's housing rules to make sure new housing gets built, such as allowing cities to expand their urban growth boundaries to add 150 or 75 acres. Bureaucracy-wise, it would also create a statewide office focused on ensuring that local land use codes comply with state law and coordinating between the various state agencies involved in housing production.
Kotek has historically faced headwinds in the legislature in attempting to pass legislation similar to SB 1537, particularly when it comes to the urban growth boundary. Lawmakers in her own party led the way in shooting down a bill she championed during last year's session.
The final version
Kotek had wanted $500 million to increase affordable housing, but lawmakers cut that by $150 million. The approved bill dedicates $75 million to this fund, as opposed to the governor's request of $200 million, and reduced the budget for building infrastructure like water and sewer systems for new housing projects. Half of the proposed budget for "shovel-ready projects" was also slashed. The bill also cut the number of acres a qualifying city can obtain as part of one-time expansion of Urban Growth Boundaries.
Still, the housing bills — SB 1537, as well as Senate Bill 1530 — went forward as part of the $376 million Emergency Housing Stability and Production Package. Lawmakers passed SB 1530 on a 51-6 vote; SB 1530 also includes a $25 million allocation to the Albina Vision Trust to purchase and redevelop property into affordable housing.
Kotek seems okay with the results.
"These bills offer a menu of tools that will provide the support needed to ease our housing crisis and help all our communities thrive," Kotek said. "I believe this package will make meaningful progress in fixing our housing shortage while also preserving our land use system and ensuring strong environmental protections."
The housing bills will now head to Kotek's desk for her signature.