Street Roots • Jan. 22-28, 2016
E d ito r ia l
Page 3
Zoning change will give local housing a chance
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nclusionary Zoning. You’ve heard aboutit,
can’t buy our way out of the problem. While it’s
but what exactly is it? And why is it so
important to increase revenue to support the
important in addressing our current housing building of affordable housing, both regulations
crisis in Oregon?
and new policies are important One without
Inclusionary zoning links the production of
the other leaves us far short from addressing
affordable housing to the production of market-
the housing crisis for Oregonians.
rate housing. The policy
Street Roots talked to industry
requires new residential
representatives who oppose inclusionary
developments include a
zoning. The biggest arguments against lifting
certain number of
the ban on inclusionary zoning was that
affordable housing units.
developers would shy away from investing in
Unfortunately, 1
new projects,if required to build affordable
inclusionary zoning is
housing, that it couldn’t produce enough units
banned in both Oregon
to solve the problem and that costs would be
and Texas. I ’m sure
passed along to consumers.
there’s a Texas joke in
All of these arguments are false.
there somewhere, but Oregon’s housing crisis
One, we have a red hot market in Portland
is no laughing matter.
and industry experts couldn’t tell me another
In 1999, the Oregon Legislature passed
market similar to Portland, such as San
legislation to prevent local communities from
Francisco or Seattle, where inclusionary zoning
adopting inclusionary housing policies that
exists and had stunted development. The
would require that affordable units be included
reality is there is still plenty of money to be
in private market housing
made for developers and
developments. At the time, the
landlords, even with
legislation was led and
inclusionary zoning.
The legislation lifting
supported by the Oregon
Second, no one ever claimed
Homebuilders’ Association.
the ban on
that inclusionary zoning alone
Two years later, in 2001, the
inclusionary zoning could solve the housing crisis.
area’s regional government
It’s simply a key component of a
in Salem would
Metro developed an affordable
larger strategy to help develop
require
local
housing strategy, hoping to get
more affordable options.
jurisdictions
to
offer
ahead of the projected housing
Without it, there is little
developers incentives government and the public can ,
crisis we find ourselves in
today. Nothing happened. The:
to help defray costs. do to require the private market
region lacked the tools;
T h is c o u ld a c tu a lly b e to correct to the shortage it g9
necessary to develop affordable
housing.
a bonus for
developers.
Special interests promised
all along that with enough
housing stock in private
housing market, the lack of affordable housing
would solve itself. Wrong.
More than 15 years after banning
inclusionary zoning, and still under the impact
of the housing bubble bursting and the great
recession, Oregon finds itself in a nightmare
scenario.
Homelessness is on the rise statewide, rents
are skyrocketing, displacement and
gentrification is à runaway train and the state
finds itself short tens of thousands of affordable
housing units. In the Portland metro region
alone we are short more than 40,000 affordable
housing units, according to the Welcome Home
Coalition.
“The challenge of housing affordability is real
and persistent,” said Portland Housing Bureau
Director Kurt Creager. “National data forecasts
that Portland is expected to continue to lead
the country in projected rent increases among
the major metro areas. Multifamily Magazine
predicts 8.4 percent average rent growth in
Portland in 2016. Since 85 percent of the
current nèw construction is luxury housing, we
need to bend the cost curve to better serve a
spectrum of households otherwise priced out
of the market.”
According to the PHB, of Portland’s 257,000
households, roughly half, or more than 125,000
households, were renters. The bureau
evaluated new uflits placed into service in
calendar year 2015 and found that thé average
monthly rent was $1,954 per month or $23,488
p e r year.
That’s crazy.
Inclusionary zoning is especially critical
when you think about how to find a broader
solution to the housing crisis. We know that we
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Contact Israel Bayer at israel^streetroots.org
Staff
Executive Director Israel Bayer
israei@streehoots.org
M an agin g E d itor Joanne Zuhl
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ioanne@stieetroots.org
p erp etu a tin g .
V e n d er C o o r d in a to r Cote tsfterket
Lastly, and possibly the most
■ cole@streetroots.org
important point, is that the
legislation lifting the ban on
inclusionary zoning in Salem
would require local jurisdictions to offer
developers incentives to help defray costs. This
could actually be a bonus for developers
depending on how local legislation is crafted.
For example, developers could receive tax
credits or density bonuses to offset building
affordable housing into their projects. The
density bonus specifically could not only help
create more affordable housing units, but it
could also allow for more units in the market
overall - something all experts agree is
needed.
The reality is that it’s time for the private
market and government to come together to
find the best solutions possible.
Special interests
representing the private
housing market,
including landlords,
realtors and .
homebuilders, have
been in the driver’s
seat for far too long
in Oregon.
Legislators have .
followed their lead
for two decades.
It’s time for the
Oregon
legislature to
take the bull by
the horns. To
do nothing
would be
nothing short
of a disgrace
for the great state of
Oregon.
Write in
Development D irecto r Sarah CfOUd
Operations D irecto r Sarah Beecroft
Program Assistant Scott Jackson, Jesuit
Volunteer
Development Assistant Ann-Derrick Gaillot
Below, a 1936
poster from the
New York
Housing
Authority calling
fo r housing
equality to
alleviate
homelessness.
Reporters Emily Green, Sue Zalokar,
Ann-Dernck Gaiflot, Sarah Hansell, Leonora Ko
Photographers Diego Diaz, Joe Glode, Ben
Brink
Editorial Assistant Monica Kwasnik
Canvasser Desmond Hardison
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