PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) – Oregon has released its first State of the State's Housing Report, detailing the lack of housing availability and affordability across the state.
The report, which was released on Nov. 21 by the Oregon Housing and Community Services agency, analyzed several aspects of the state's housing crisis from Oregon's housing shortage, to housing costs outpacing wage gains.
When it comes to Oregon's housing shortage, the report noted housing construction has not kept pace with Oregon’s “rapidly increasing population,” after the state grew by more than 860,000 residents – representing a 25% increase from 2004 to 2023.
To remedy this, Oregon must add over 500,000 housing units over the next two decades to begin addressing supply issues, the report stated.
Housing affordability was another factor leading to Oregon's poor state of housing.
According to the report, home prices have far outpaced wage gains in the last decade in the for-sale market.
For every dollar Oregonians earned in wage increases between 2013 and 2022, the median sales price of a home increased by $7.10, according to the report -- noting communities of color continue to face lower homeownership rates (49%) compared to their white counterparts (66%).
Additionally, the report found more than half of all Oregon renters and one-third of homeowners are experiencing a housing cost burden – meaning they spend more than 30% of their income on housing costs.
"Rent was stable going into 2020 but began to climb sharply alongside for-sale prices during the summer and has not returned to pre-pandemic levels," the report stated. "Rapid rent increases have largely eroded the wage gains Oregon renters experienced over the last five years, with more than 50 cents of every new dollar earned going to rent hikes."
This comes as approximately 242,000 households are in extremely low-income or very low-income categories, while Oregon offers about 113,000 housing units that are affordable and available to them – leaving a deficit of 128,000 units for these households, the report noted.
"With homeownership out of reach and rent prices climbing, Oregonians face financial precarity, eviction, and, ultimately, homelessness," the report said. "The renter cost burden has increased by 11% between 2019 and 2022, representing tens of thousands of new households struggling to keep up. This increase predominately affects households making between $45,000 and $75,000, whose representation among cost-burdened renters grew from just 18% in 2001 to 44% in 2022."
The lack of affordable housing and rising cost burden has led to an increase in people experiencing homelessness, the report said.
When adjusted for population size, Oregon ranks third in the nation for people experiencing homelessness, behind New York and Vermont, according to the report.
As of 2023, more than 20,000 people were experiencing homelessness in Oregon, which also ranks first in the nation for unsheltered homelessness among families with children, the report stated.
The number of children experiencing unsheltered homelessness in Oregon is 14-times higher than the national average with a rate of 19.9 unsheltered children per 10,000, according to the report.
Oregon has seen some progress addressing homelessness, OHCS said, including executive orders by Gov. Tina Kotek -- which helped increase the number of shelter beds, helped people transition from shelters to permanent housing, and helped prevent some evictions in the first place with rent assistance.
Becky Strauss is the head of the Eviction Defense Project — an organization that provides free legal help to low income tenants facing eviction court. She said most cases involve nonpayment of rent, making rent assistance critical.
“The tenants that come through our door seeking help with their eviction problem — these are families with children, seniors on a fixed income who can’t afford the next rent increase to keep them in the neighborhood they’ve lived in their entire lives,” Strauss said.
However, OHCS argues that further investment in homelessness and housing services is needed and will require state and federal action.
“OHCS cannot solve the deeply entrenched issues facing the people of Oregon on its own,” said Megan Bolton, assistant director of research at OHCS. “There are factors beyond housing that impact the ability of individuals to thrive in today’s economy, and it will take coordination and collaboration with our federal partners, other state agencies, and cities, both large and small, to find ways to ensure housing stability for all Oregonians.”
OHCS will release a State of the State’s Housing Report every two years, with additional analysis released in the years between each release, the agency said.
"Being attentive to the things that add meaning to people's lives requires reliable data," said OHCS Executive Director Andrea Bell. "Data enables us to identify where our efforts are making an impact and where improvements are needed to make life better in ways that all people can feel and that we can measure. These data will aid in our collective efforts to deliver housing progress that communities deserve and demand."
