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Housing

The Portland Community Housing Plan

Portland's housing crisis isn't a mystery. It's expensive to build, hard to keep what's affordable affordable, and renters carry most of the risk. This plan focuses on the priorities, resources, and regulations needed to create more housing, permanently affordable homes, and real stability for renters that sets the stage for a non-market, community housing future.

Abundant
Faster and less expensive to build
  • Low-cost construction financing through a new Portland Community Housing Fund
  • Reduce the expense of system development charges (SDCs)
  • Rapid permitting for projects using pre-approved building plans
  • Critically evaluate regulations that make it expensive and slow to build
Tools to meet housing demand
  • Allow more housing near transit, schools, parks, and community centers
  • Let developers build family-sized units, not just studios and one-bedrooms
  • Allow more small, backyard homes
  • Use surplus City-owned land for housing
Vacant and vacation properties returned to the market
  • Charge a Housing Supply Impact Fee for homes not used as a primary residence, and use the revenue to build permanently affordable homes
Affordable
Permanently affordable, across income levels
  • Portland Community Housing Fund builds affordable homes and maintains them permanently, as public infrastructure for the people of Portland
  • Stabilize existing affordable housing to protect residents and keep properties in good condition long-term
  • Acquire market-rate housing when it's sold, to protect it as part of Portland's affordable housing infrastructure
  • Housing built with City funds is accessible for people with disabilities
Prioritize resources to respond to the crisis
  • Seed the Fund with the existing $17.5M, plus revenue from the new Housing Supply Impact Fee
  • Increase the portion of urban renewal funds used for housing from 45% to 75%
  • Sell development rights for surplus city property to housing developers
  • Expand use of Portland Clean Energy Fund dollars to build and preserve affordable housing
Attainable
Stability for renters
  • Tenant Opportunity to Purchase (TOP) gives renters a pathway to buy their homes if their landlord decides to sell
  • Discourage large rent hikes by setting the relocation assistance trigger at 5%
  • Affordable, stable rents and a prohibition on no-cause evictions as a condition of City housing investments
Transparency in the rental market
  • Citywide rental housing database, including rent increase history and accessibility info
  • Email notifications for available accessible homes
  • Cap rental application fees at $10
  • Portable Screening Reports, so renters stop paying multiple landlords for the same screening
  • Standardized applications and screening criteria as a condition of City investments
  • Reset relocation assistance to reflect current market rents