The governor of Oregon and the mayor of Portland say they will take action to build more multifamily housing construction in Portland, according to a release.
Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek and the Portland Mayor Keith Wilson said the multifamily housing commitments were informed by recommendations made by the Multifamily Housing Development Workgroup, convened by the governor and mayor this spring. They were joined by Portland City Councilor Dan Ryan, Smart Growth Board President Sarah Zahn, Tom Kilbane, managing director at Urban Renaissance Group, and Andrew Colas, CEO at Colas Construction, Inc.
Portland has the worst housing crisis outlook among the largest metro areas in the United States, according to a LendingTree study released Tuesday.
The study analyzed housing markets in 100 of the largest metro areas in the U.S., analyzing vacancy rates, housing unit approvals and home value-to-income ratios.
“In doing so, we found that three of the five metros with the worst outlook are in the Pacific Northwest,” and according to LendingTree, Portland ranks the worst mostly because of a lack of housing and unaffordability.
“I believe in a vision for Oregon and for Portland where everyone can afford a home, where people can live in the places they want and still make ends meet at the end of the month,” Kotek said in the release.
“Rolling up our sleeves together like this is how we are going to make that happen. Thank you to Mayor Wilson for convening this work group with me and to the developers who shared their experiences to guide these actions.”
“Portland is open for business — for housing, for opportunity, and for a thriving future,” Wilson said in the release. “By expanding self-certification and investing in office-to-housing conversions, we are cutting red tape and accelerating the creation of much-needed homes for Portlanders.”
Build More Multifamily Housing And More Permits Faster
State staff support is being provided to help Portland issue housing construction permits more efficiently and helping builders break ground more quickly, thereby bringing down the cost of construction and eventual cost to Oregonians.
Wilson announced a commitment to reboot the self-certification program and launch a third-party plan review as part of its permit-improvement work.
Self-certification refers to a process wherein a licensed design professional can certify that their submitted plans meet all applicable building codes and regulations, thereby bypassing full building-code plan review for certain types of projects. Together, these two programs will reduce permitting times and spur housing production, Wilson said.
Build More Multifamily Housing For Office-to-Housing Conversion
Kotek directed Business Oregon to designate office-to-housing conversion projects in Portland as essential to the economic well-being of the state, allowing the state Building Codes Division (BCD) to partner with Portland and developers to put together a rapid-approval assessment team to oversee the effort and share the review and inspection responsibilities. The state leaning into these projects will incentivize more projects, help Portland coordinate services, and make projects more predictable, according to the release.
Wilson announced a $15 million notice of funding opportunity to be released later this year for a middle-income office-to-residential housing development in the central city. These office-to-residential conversion projects help revitalize Portland’s urban core and promote the reuse of existing buildings.
Economic Development
Working with local and regional partners, the governor’s office will create a six-month economic development strategy.
The strategy builds on existing economic development plans such as Prosper Portland’s Advance Portland, and identifies short-, medium-, and long-term tactics to keep existing businesses in Portland and recruit more businesses to set up shop.
Builder’s Remedy: Allowing More Multifamily Affordable Housing
Kotek committed to exploring how a policy called the Builder’s Remedy, modeled after legislation in California, could work to build more multifamily housing in Oregon. The California Legislature passed the Builder’s Remedy, which limits denials of projects with affordable housing when local jurisdictions are out of compliance with state production laws.
The plan announced is to “kick-start the building of 5,000 multifamily housing units over the next three years by waiving system development charges during that time,” according to the release. They also jointly committed to continue reviewing the work group’s recommendations, to meet with investors in partnership with the City of Portland and multifamily housing developers.
