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THE DAILY ASTORIAN • FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 2019
Oregon housing squeeze sets
stage for statewide rent control
State could be a
pioneer for nation
By ANDREW SELSKY
Associated Press
Colin Murphey/The Daily Astorian
The Warrenton-Hammond School Board has agreed to pay
more than $7 million for around 58 acres along Dolphin
Avenue that will become the school district’s new master
K-12 campus.
Warrenton schools
secure land for a
new master campus
By EDWARD
STRATTON
The Daily Astorian
WARRENTON — The
Wa r r e n t o n - H a m m o n d
School Board on Thursday
agreed to pay more than $7
million to Warrenton Fiber
Co. for a new master cam-
pus on Dolphin Avenue.
The school district
agreed to $6.3 million for
around 58 acres between
Dolphin Avenue and the
Roosevelt
subdivision
being developed by the
Nygaard family, owners of
Warrenton Fiber. The dis-
trict also agreed to buy 5
acres of wetland mitigation
credits from the Nygaards
for $870,000 to offset
future impacts to Old Ski-
panon Creek running along
the southern edge of the
property.
“It’s the fi rst real step
in a really long process,”
Mark Jeffery, the school
superintendent in Warren-
ton, said before the school
board’s vote.
The purchase begins a
15-year plan to move all
campuses west of the Ski-
panon River and above the
tsunami inundation zone.
Voters last year approved
$38.5 million in bonds to
purchase a master campus
and build a new middle
school as part of the fi rst
phase. A facilities commit-
tee recommended a 2022
bond to move the high
school, and a 2032 bond
to move the elementary
school.
The school district will
likely close on the Dolphin
Avenue property in April,
after the Nygaards fi nish
the plat for the Roosevelt
subdivision and break off
the district’s portion of the
property, Jeffery said. By
then, the district should
have a project manager and
design team to start design-
ing the school and lining
up construction timelines .
“I have no idea when
they’ll start turning dirt,”
Jeffery said of the project.
“It will obviously be after
my tenure.”
Jeffery will retire at the
end of the school year in
June. He is being replaced
by Tom Rogozinski, prin-
cipal of Warrenton Grade
School, who was cho-
sen Thursday as the new
superintendent.
The Nygaards will
retain access to the new
campus site and eventu-
ally punch in a road along
the north end connecting
Willow Drive and Dolphin
Avenue. The new Roos-
evelt subdivision will even-
tually include 74 homes.
Millennial voter registration
surges in Oregon
By SARAH
ZIMMERMAN
Associated Press
SALEM — Gov. Kate
Brown on Thursday touted
the success of the state’s
unique automatic voter reg-
istration program, pointing
to a new report that argues
the “Oregon model” could
be key to engaging millen-
nial voters nationwide.
The study by the non-
profi t Center for Ameri-
can Progress found that
voter registration numbers
among youths have soared
since Oregon switched to
an automatic registration
model in 2016. The law
registers eligible voters
when they apply for a driv-
er’s license.
More than 390,000 Ore-
gonians were registered
under the program in 2017,
and half of those voters
were under the age of 40.
The report also noted
the success of the state’s
preregistration
program
for 16- and 17-year- olds.
Nearly a quarter of those
who preregistered and
reached voting age before
the 2018 election turned
out to vote, the study said.
SALEM — Faced with
a housing shortage and sky-
rocketing rents, Oregon is
poised to become the fi rst
state to impose mandatory
rent controls, with a mea-
sure establishing tenant pro-
tections moving swiftly
through the Legislature.
Many residents have tes-
tifi ed in favor of the legisla-
tion, describing anxiety and
hardship as they face higher
rents. Some have gone up by
as much as almost 100 per-
cent — forcing people to
move, stay with friends or
even live in their vehicles.
The Oregon housing
shortage is getting worse
because of a big infl ux of
people moving to the state
— lured by the state’s job
opportunities and its for-
ests, mountains, coastline
and relaxed lifestyle. Many
move from California,
where the cost of living is
often more expensive.
Cities across the West
Coast are struggling with
soaring housing prices and
a growing homelessness
problem. Medford recently
authorized churches to offer
car camping for the home-
less on their parking lots.
A state House commit-
tee on Wednesday backed
the measure, sending it to
the full chamber for a vote
as soon as next week. The
state Senate passed it last
week.
Gov. Kate Brown told
reporters she expected the
full House to approve the
measure. “I look forward
to signing the bill,” said
Brown, a Democrat.
The committee rejected
an amendment that would
have exempted cities with
populations under 150,000
and another that would have
delayed the measure from
becoming law until Jan. 1,
2020, instead of immedi-
ately after Brown signs it.
“We’ve waited too long
as it is, and there are too
many people living in tents.
It is an emergency,” said
state Rep. Tawna Sanchez,
a Portland Democrat and
member of the House Com-
mittee on Human Services
and Housing that endorsed
the legislation.
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Lawmakers said Oregon
will be a pioneer in state-
wide rent control if the mea-
sure becomes law. New York
has a statewide rent control
law, but cities can choose
whether to participate.
California restricts the
ability of cities to impose
rent control. Last November,
voters defeated a ballot ini-
tiative that would have over-
turned that law.
“Homelessness
and
affordability have no bound-
aries,” said Rep. Mark
Meek, a Democrat who rep-
resents Clackamas County.
“We’re going to be lead-
ing the nation now with this
legislation.”
Oregon’s measure pro-
hibits landlords from ter-
minating month-to-month
leases without cause after
12 months of occupancy and
limits rent hikes to once per
year. Those increases are
limited to 7 percent above
the annual change in the
consumer price index.
Landlords can terminate
tenancies only with 90 days’
written notice and payment
of one month’s rent, with
exemptions in some cases. A
landlord can refuse to renew
a fi xed-term lease if the
tenant receives three lease
violation warnings within
12 months and the landlord
gives 90 days’ notice.
The Oregon Rental Hous-
ing Association, which rep-
resents small-scale land-
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lords, said the measure
protects good tenants while
not encouraging landlords to
leave the business and invest
their money elsewhere.
“I believe most landlords
will be able to adapt and
operate within the param-
eters,” said Jim Straub, the
group’s legislative director.
Eric Lint, who lives
in Bend, one of the fast-
est-growing cities in the
U.S., urged lawmakers to
pass the protections because
of spiraling rents. The med-
ical lab where he works is
chronically
understaffed
because potential hires say
there is a lack of affordable
housing.
Lint said his hourly pay
has risen 8 percent over fi ve
years. Meanwhile, his rent
has increased 66 percent. He
plans to move away in the
fall, but did not say where in
his testimony.
Anna Pena, a senior at
the University of Oregon in
Eugene who works full time,
described living in a house
smaller than 1,200 square
feet with fi ve roommates
and spending over half her
income on rent that then
increased by 15 percent.
“Ultimately,
housing
insecurity has been one of
the biggest setbacks for
my education and personal
health,” she said.
Sen. Tim Knopp, a
Republican from Bend, said
before he voted against the
measure last week that it
does not address the housing
supply issue.
Another measure aiming
to deal with that issue would
require cities and counties
to allow duplexes and some
higher-density housing in
lands zoned for single-fam-
ily homes.
House Speaker Tina
Kotek, a Democrat, said
30,000 housing units must
be built per year to meet the
state’s housing defi cit and to
build for the future as more
people move to Oregon.
Oregon ranked second to
Vermont as the top moving
destination in 2018, accord-
ing to a study by United
Van Lines, the largest U.S.
household goods mover.
About 60 percent of Ore-
gon’s new arrivals come for
jobs or because they’re look-
ing for work, said Josh Leh-
ner, a state economist. At
least one-third of the new
arrivals are from California,
he said.
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