Message from Traci: There’s time to take bold aim at Oregon’s housing crisis.
Dear friends,
A historic push to expand housing opportunity is afoot—if stumbling—in Salem. At HDC, we’re celebrating legislative wins to date this year and cheering ongoing efforts to get important bills across the finish line.
Housing-insecure Oregonians sealed notable victories in January—starting with the release of $200 million in emergency funds to respond to the homelessness state of emergency that Governor Tina Kotek declared. The funds will prevent and reverse homelessness for roughly 10,000 Oregon households and increase emergency shelter capacity.
Other achievements: the legislature’s passage of eviction reforms and green-lighting of the Oregon Housing Needs Analysis, which seeks to ensure affordable, fair, equitable outcomes of local housing planning efforts.
Elected leaders still have a chance to approve spending requests that dwarf January’s emergency authorization, most notably the governor’s full $1.48 billion housing budget. The recommended outlay would use LIFT bonds, general funds, and other sources to build and preserve affordable multifamily housing, support affordable home ownership, expand homelessness prevention programs, and fulfill other housing priorities impacting tens of thousands of Oregonians.
Beyond spending, lawmakers have been handed a host of creative proposals, most with minimal budgetary impact, to make it easier and cheaper to build housing in Oregon. Each carries costs and risks—and all share the laudable goal of shrinking a statewide housing supply shortage estimated to exceed 500,000 units.
Bold efforts to subdue our state’s housing crisis will continue in spite of immediate obstacles. To the extent the vision put forth by Kotek and others succeeds, Oregonians who face high barriers to housing opportunity will have the most to gain: Indigenous people, immigrant families, and people who experience serious mental illness, to name some specific groups HDC’s clients serve.
At HDC, we applaud the leaders who are working to create a more equitable and abundant housing future for all Oregonians. We are excited to collaborate with our partners to turn these opportunities—when they come—into action.
With warm regards,