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11/9/2022 Member News

City of Portland Announces “Moonshot” Housing Proposal


Mayor Ted Wheeler recently announced that the city will attempt to produce 20,000 new affordable housing units in just 10 years. As part of the Mayor’s vision to address homelessness, a key feature is the creation of an average of 2,000 units per year, which is roughly double the current rate of development of affordable housing in the city in recent years.

According to the City’s website, the current resolution titled, “Establish key actions to increase affordable housing construction”, is outlined as followed:

“Reduce the 5-year average waiting lists to get into affordable housing by catalyzing the construction of 20,000 units of housing by 2033. Key actions include identifying and land-banking up to 400 publicly owned sites that are shovel-ready for development, speeding permitting of nonprofit and private multifamily housing developments, and requesting assistance from the Oregon Governor and State Legislature to increase statewide funding and expand local options to fund affordable housing.”

This is an ambitious goal and we applaud the Mayor’s vision for generating new housing supply. Going forward, however, HBA will engage with city leaders to ensure that any new proposal takes into consideration the need for a more varied housing supply, broader interpretation of affordability thresholds, development that includes market rate housing, improved permitting processes, decreased regulation, and greater emphasis on public-private partnerships.