housing & industry advocacy

LOCAL GOVERNMENT AFFAIRS UPDATES • HBA OF GREATER PORTLAND

HBA members represented on Governor’s Housing Production Advisory Council

On March 6th, Governor Kotek announced a new 25-member Council to recommend and implement an action plan to meet the state’s new housing production target of 36,000 homes per year. Four HBA members including Justin Wood (Fish Construction), Natalie Janney (MultiTech Engineering), Deborah Flagan (Hayden Homes), and Eric Olsen (Olsen Communities) were appointed to the council and will help advance policies that will improve housing production in Oregon. In addition to these members, several local housing experts and leaders from the Portland area are also represented on the council including Damien Hall, Elissa Gertler, Ivory Matthews, Margaret Van Vliet, and Ernesto Fonseca. This group was assembled to help the governor identify policies and investments needed to adequately address Oregon’s ongoing and severe housing crisis.

Gresham’s Proposed Vesting Rules for New and Permitted Subdivisions

HBA has been working with several builders to improve the process for determining vesting rights for approved subdivisions in Gresham. Having collaborated with city staff in regular Development Advisory Committee meetings, builders and HBA have identified several potential improvements to the way that the city approves and authorizes construction of housing in planned subdivisions. Based on those conversations, staff has presented several scenarios for consideration that would extend flexibility and time criteria allowed for developments to move forward given increased processing and approval times required by modern building guidelines. Once a builder has approval for a tentative plan, they may now qualify for several more years to complete needed platting approvals and to build-out phased construction.

Beaverton ADU & Duplex Advocacy Win

As a continued priority for the HBA, we are constantly monitoring local jurisdictions’ implementation and approval criteria used for middle housing projects recently allowed by HB2001. Working with a member, HBA was part of a small group that helped advance an improvement to the way that the City of Beaverton administers ADU and duplex Right of Way (ROW) standards. In a recent memo, the City prioritized housing affordability by easing ROW standards previously required for the construction of ADUs and duplexes on a property with an existing residence. The interim rules specify that new dwelling units added to a property with one existing single detached dwelling “will not be required to dedicate property for public ROW purposes or construct frontage improvements such as sidewalks, even if the existing frontage doesn’t meet the standards in the [Engineering Design Manual].” This small change will make it more affordable and more feasible for smallvolume and middle housing builders to generate the needed diversity of housing units in Beaverton.

For more information on any of the below items, please contact Director of Policy and Government Affairs Preston Korst at prestonk@hbapdx.org

HBA Encourages North Plains UGB Expansion

HBA is encouraging the City of North Plains to move forward with plans to expand their Urban Growth Boundary for needed employment and housing opportunities. In late February the city’s Project Advisory Committee moved forward with preferred plan that would expand and incorporate 688 additional acres for employment uses and 167 acres for housing and parks to accommodate predicted growth over the next 20 years. The anticipated preferred option will soon head to the Planning Commission and City Council for further discussion and input. HBA staff and members will continue to ensure that any plans under consideration make best use of lands to accommodate for needed housing by encouraging both flexibility and density.

HBA Testifies in Support of Portland’s Office-toHousing Conversation Program

On March 15th, HBA staff testified in front of the Portland City Council in support of a new Office to Housing Conversion program. In an effort to revitalize the city’s downtown core, in addition to addressing much needed housing supply, Council voted unanimously to approve the incentive package which will make it less expensive and more technically feasible to turn underutilized office space into apartments. Among other things, the program will exempt office-to-residential conversions from needing to pay for System Development Charges (up to $3m) while technically lowering the seismic improvement standards that are typically required of multi-unit residential buildings.

Both alternatives will make it more financially viable for building owners to generate value at a time when in-person office work has fallen dramatically since the start of the pandemic. There is also a bill in Salem (HB 2984) that replicates these steps while lowering thresholds to change zoning standards from commercial to residential.

Washington County Inspection Time Frames

As many builders and remodelers have been experiencing since January, the wait times for simple inspections in Washington County have become unacceptable. According to the county’s data, inspection time frames for most jobs went from 1 to 2 days to an average of 10 days for basic electrical, plumbing and other inspections. This inadequacy puts builders, remodelers, and homeowners in a difficult position of halting work on build sites and delaying much needed housing opportunities during a time of high interest rates and extremely low vacancy rates.

We are actively working with the county’s Land Use and Transportation leadership to find ways that mitigate these delays. Staffing shortages are still the root cause of the delays— they are down roughly 5 positions, or about a quarter of a fully staffed team, three of which have recently been filled and will begin work soon, and the other two will start in the coming months.