PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) – Portland City Council unanimously passed a Housing Production Strategy on Wednesday – marking the city’s first-ever strategy amid the affordable housing crisis.
The strategy features 35 items to implement over the next six years and will be adjusted as needed to meet housing needs.
So far, two items in the strategy were completed earlier in 2024, and another 15 items are underway with an additional four projects kicking off in the fall.
“These are not pie-in-the-sky ideas that will sit on a shelf for years and years until there’s the political will to do them. This is a very real list of work that we fully intend to do,” Commissioner, and mayoral candidate, Carmen Rubio said during the city council meeting.
The commissioner, who proposed the strategy earlier in the summer, added, “This Housing Production Strategy emphasizes equitable outcomes for communities facing bigger challenges to meeting their housing needs – especially low-income households, working families, communities of color, elders, people with disabilities, and people experiencing houselessness."
Key elements of the strategy include the overall goal of developing all types of housing, obtaining additional funding for affordable housing and continuing to streamline the zoning process.
The city also plans on expanding homeownership programs by expanding land availability, expediting permitting, and increasing assistance for downpayments.
Portland's Housing Needs Analysis found that the city needs 120,560 dwelling units by 2045.
The city also needs to play catch-up in order to meet Governor Tina Kotek’s statewide housing production strategy.
To do this, Portland needs to build 55,000 units by 2032, or about 6,000 units per year. But as noted by commissioner, and mayoral candidate, Rene Gonzalez, the city produced just under 1,500 units in 2023.
According to the city, Portland has excess buildable land with a development capacity of 236,977 units, but there are several hurdles to developing housing. This includes development and construction costs, workforce shortages, a lack of financing -- as banks and other lenders are less willing to loan funds – and regulation issues such as permitting.
While developing strategies to address the housing crisis, Portland is taking inspiration from Los Angeles.
During Wednesday's meeting, Rubio noted that city council staff met with staffers from Los Angeles City Council to discuss the city's Executive Directive 1, which expedites the process of developing affordable housing and shelters.
The Housing Production Strategy comes after the 2023 State of Housing in Portland Report showed that housing affordability remained a challenge for a majority of Portlanders as rent and home sale prices outpace incomes.
According to the strategy, more than one-third of Portland homeowners and around half of Portland renters were cost-burdened in 2022 -- spending at least 30% of their income on housing.
During public testimony, Portland's Bureau of Planning and Sustainability said the city needs to spend $70 million per year to meet one-quarter of the city's housing needs. For the last four years, Portland averaged $60 million towards housing annually, the bureau said.
