A2
THE ASTORIAN • THURSDAY, JULY 8, 2021
IN BRIEF
Four people taken to hospital
after crash on Highway 30
Four people were taken to the hospital Monday
afternoon following a crash on U.S. Highway 30 in
Astoria.
Police say a vehicle crossed into the eastbound lane
and struck another vehicle head-on before rolling onto
its top, blocking both eastbound lanes.
Both drivers and two passengers in the vehicle that
was hit were taken to Columbia Memorial Hospital in
Astoria.
Razor clamming conservation
closure to begin
An annual conservation closure for razor clams
begins July 15 on Clatsop County beaches.
With the closure, the popular stretch of beach
between Seaside and Hammond that yields more than
90% of the state’s razor clam harvest will have been
closed to diggers since October.
The annual conservation closure, established in
1967, runs through Sept. 30. It is intended to give
young, newly set clams time to establish themselves
on the beach.
Last fall, the state had predicted a good harvest sea-
son following that year’s conservation closure. But
razor clamming was shut down because of high levels
of domoic acid. Clatsop beaches remained closed into
2021 due to high toxin levels.
Razor clamming remains open from Cape Lookout,
south of Netarts Bay near Tillamook, to the Califor-
nia border.
— The Astorian
Oregon heat death toll hits 116
New state fi gures show at least 116 people suc-
cumbed to the harsh heat and sun that bore down on
the Pacifi c Northwest from June 25 to June 28.
At its peak, temperatures reached a record-shatter-
ing 116 degrees in the Portland metro area.
The new tally provided by the Oregon State Police
on Wednesday provides no identifying details beyond
the age, gender and county of residence of those who
died — a stark listing of demographics that off ers few
hints of the human tragedy that unfolded.
A majority of the deaths occurred in Multnomah
County.
“Last week’s record-breaking heatwave is a harbin-
ger of things to come,” Gov. Kate Brown said. “Cli-
mate change is real, and it is here. We’ve been working
to make sure Oregonians are prepared for these types
of emergencies — and we’ll keep at it, centering the
voices of those most impacted in our eff orts.”
— Oregon Capital Bureau
DEATHS
July 6, 2021
In DAHLEN,
Brief
Mar-
vel, 101, of Astoria,
died in Astoria. Ocean
Deaths
View Funeral & Cre-
mation Service of Asto-
ria is in charge of the
arrangements.
HARWELL, Linda C.,
72, of Ocean Park, Wash-
ington, died in Astoria.
Caldwell’s
Luce-Lay-
ton Mortuary of Asto-
ria is in charge of the
arrangements.
July 2, 2021
KROTZER,
Keith
Merle, 47, of Westport,
died near Knappa. Cald-
well’s Luce-Layton Mor-
tuary of Astoria is in charge
of the arrangements.
July 1, 2021
HARRINGTON, San-
dra Lee, 68, of Gear-
hart, died in Warrenton.
Caldwell’s
Luce-Lay-
ton Mortuary of Asto-
ria is in charge of the
arrangements.
MEMORIAL
Thursday, July 8
Memorial
HARRINGTON, Sandra Lee — Celebration of life
at 2 p.m., Haystack Gardens, 148 E. Gower Ave. in
Cannon Beach.
ON THE RECORD
DUII
• Catherine Nicole
On
the
Record
• Shirley
Kathleen
Neil, 40, of Astoria, was
Butler, 49, of Vancouver,
Washington, was arrested
Monday at Warrenton
High School for driving
under the infl uence of
intoxicants.
• Bill D. Demoss, 84, of
Seaside, was arrested Sat-
urday on N. Main Avenue
in Warrenton for DUII.
arrested Saturday on W.
Marine Drive in Asto-
ria for DUII and reckless
driving.
• Michael Jason Ehr-
lund, 43, of Astoria, was
arrested Saturday on the
Astoria Bridge for DUII,
reckless driving and reck-
less endangerment.
PUBLIC MEETINGS
THURSDAY
Seaside Civic and Convention Center Commission, 5 p.m.,
415 First Ave.
Gearhart Planning Commission, 6 p.m., (electronic meeting).
Seaside Parks Advisory Committee, 6 p.m., 989 Broadway.
PUBLIC MEETINGS
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REVELERS
Luke Whittaker/Chinook Observer
Revelers ignited fi reworks on Long Beach in Washington state on the Fourth of July.
Lawmakers OK more than $700M for housing
Moves made to
increase supply
By PETER WONG
Oregon Capital Bureau
SALEM — Oregon law-
makers have approved more
than $700 million for hous-
ing needs that go beyond the
emergency prompted by the
coronavirus pandemic.
In addition to avoid-
ing evictions and foreclo-
sures, the Legislature aimed
at increasing the supply of
lower-cost housing, help-
ing people without perma-
nent shelter and reducing
housing disparities faced by
racial and ethnic minorities.
Lawmakers went well
beyond what they did in
2019, when they barred
no-cause evictions of renters
and required cities of 10,000
or more — plus all cities
within the Portland m etro
boundary — to allow for
duplexes or other multifam-
ily dwellings on land zoned
for single-family homes.
“We … have gone to
great lengths to keep Ore-
gonians housed through a
combination of compassion-
ate policy and sound invest-
ments,” state House Speaker
Tina Kotek, D-Portland,
said in a statement summa-
rizing housing legislation.
“While the work we’ve done
has provided more stability
for Oregonians, we’ll need
to maintain a crisis mindset
going forward as we con-
tinue to work to solve the
state’s housing crisis.”
The moratorium on evic-
tions ended in June , though
the grace period for pay-
ments of past-due rent from
the pandemic is extended by
Senate Bill 282 to Feb. 28 .
Prompted by the slowness
in state and federal funds for
rental assistance reaching
landlords, lawmakers gave
tenants a 60-day safe har-
bor from evictions under S B
278 if they show proof they
have applied for assistance.
“Evictions and foreclo-
sures can have a genera-
tional devastating impact on
families,” Rep. Julie Fahey,
a Democrat from Eugene ,
said. She worked with Rep.
Jack Zika, a Republican
from Redmond, to craft both
the state’s original assistance
of $200 million to landlords
and tenants during the spe-
cial session in December
— a month before the 2021
session got down to busi-
ness — and the safe-harbor
provision that passed in the
session’s fi nal days. Federal
aid boosted the available
amount for rental assistance
to around $500 million.
Lawmakers
reinstated
a separate moratorium on
residential foreclosures in
House Bill 2009, which runs
through September . Gov.
Kate Brown can extend it by
executive order once more
through December if she
Hailey Hoff man/The Astorian
Lawmakers made a substantial investment in housing during
the legislative session that ended in June.
Housing supply
gives advance notice.
Below is a list of some
of the key housing legisla-
tion that passed during the
session :
Homelessness
• $47 million for increas-
ing emergency shelter
capacity and navigation
centers for the next cold-
weather season, including
$26.5 million for low-bar-
rier emergency shelters
in eight cities , $10.5 mil-
lion for shelters in Salem
and $9.7 million for addi-
tional motel-to-shelter Proj-
ect Turnkey sites. One of
those will be in Multnomah
County.
• $25 million to assist
communities with shelter
operations and provide tech-
nical assistance.
• $20 million for the
Behavioral Health Housing
Incentive Fund.
• $12 million for rental
assistance and service sup-
ports for permanent support-
ive housing.
• $10 million to Mult-
nomah County for the con-
struction of a behavioral
health resource center in
downtown Portland.
• $3.6 million for provid-
ers serving unaccompanied
unhoused youth (HB 2544).
• $1.2 million to improve
the statewide data system on
homelessness and service
outcomes.
• Expediting emergency
shelter siting by tempo-
rarily giving local govern-
ments more fl exibility in sit-
ing shelters (HB 2006).
• Modernizing the state-
wide housing and homeless
assistance system and ensur-
ing access to culturally spe-
cifi c and culturally respon-
sive organizations (HB
2100).
• Protecting unsheltered
Oregonians from fi nes or
arrest for sleeping or camp-
ing on public property when
there are no other options
(HB 3115).
Tenant support
• $5 million for hous-
ing assistance for domestic
violence and sexual assault
survivors.
• $4.8 million for fair
housing enforcement and
education to the Fair Hous-
ing Council of Oregon, Ore-
Subscription rates
Eff ective January 12, 2021
MAIL
EZpay (per month) ...............................................................................................................$10.75
13 weeks in advance ...........................................................................................................$37.00
26 weeks in advance ...........................................................................................................$71.00
52 weeks in advance ........................................................................................................ $135.00
DIGITAL
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cation on implicit and racial
bias for mortgage loan pro-
viders, authorizing grants
and technical assistance to
organizations working to
increase homeownership for
low-income individuals and
people of color, and renew-
ing the Joint Task Force on
Addressing Racial Dispar-
ities in Home Ownership
to recommend further solu-
tions (HB 2007 and SB 79).
• Strengthening Oregon’s
opportunity to purchase
laws for manufactured home
park residents (HB 2364).
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gon Department of Justice
and the Oregon Bureau of
Labor and Industries.
• $4.5 million to establish
a long-term rent assistance
fund for young adults under
25 who have been recently
homeless or exiting foster
care or juvenile corrections.
• $3 million to sup-
port community organiza-
tions that are distributing
rent assistance or educating
tenants.
• $1 million to the Ore-
gon Law Center for legal
assistance to renters and
residents of manufactured
home parks.
• Requiring landlords
to conduct individualized
assessments and consider
supplemental evidence from
applicants before denying
an application for housing
because of criminal history
(SB 291).
Homeownership
• $20 million for down
payment assistance, half to a
revolving loan fund to help
homebuyers with secondary
loans and half to community
culturally responsive orga-
nizations to increase home-
ownership opportunities.
• $20 million to provide
fl exible funding for aff ord-
able single-family construc-
tion and alternative owner-
ship models such as co-ops.
• $10 million to create the
Healthy Homes Program to
provide grants for the repair
and rehabilitation of homes
of low-income households
and communities dispropor-
tionately aff ected by envi-
ronmental pollution or other
hazards (HB 2842).
• $7 million to support
manufactured home park
residents with park acquisi-
tion loans and home decom-
missioning grants and
replacement loans.
• $3 million for foreclo-
sure avoidance counseling
services to homeowners.
• $2 million to provide
technical assistance and out-
reach to culturally specifi c
organizations to reduce bar-
riers to homeownership.
• $2 million to Square-
One for a shared-equity
homeownership pilot with
tiny homes.
• $1 million for a com-
munity pilot program that
develops accessory dwell-
ing units for income-eligible
homeowners (HB 3335).
• Protecting homeowners
from foreclosure during the
pandemic (HB 2009).
• Addressing racial dis-
parities in homeownership
by requiring additional edu-
• $410 million for hous-
ing construction through the
Local Innovation Fast Track
and Permanent Supportive
Housing programs.
• $100 million to preserve
existing aff ordable housing.
• $30 million for aff ord-
able housing or land acqui-
sition revolving loan funds.
• $10 million for gap
fi nancing for aff ordable
rental housing projects
that are co-located with
child care or early learning
centers.
• $5 million for gap
fi nancing to aff ordable
housing projects already
approved that have experi-
enced unexpected increases
in construction costs during
the pandemic.
• $4.5 million for grants
and technical assistance to
local governments for com-
munity planning and devel-
opment code updates.
• $1.3 million to study
the incorporation of regional
housing needs analysis into
state and local planning
programs.
• $900,000 to study
local system development
charges and their impact on
the cost of market-rate hous-
ing development (HB 3040).
• Increasing the limit for
the state’s agricultural hous-
ing tax credit from $7.25
million to $16.75 million
per biennium to increase
the construction, rehabilita-
tion, or acquisition of agri-
culture workforce housing
(HB 2433).
• Requiring local govern-
ments to allow the devel-
opment of aff ordable hous-
ing projects on land within
an urban growth boundary
not zoned for residential use
(SB 8).
• Reducing red tape for
religious organizations to
develop their properties for
low-income housing and
allowing the continuation of
their property tax exemption
(HB 2008).
• Establishing conditions
under which local govern-
ments must allow land divi-
sions for new middle hous-
ing development (SB 458).
• Requiring local govern-
ments to submit informa-
tion to an online inventory
of surplus public lands (HB
2918).
• Allowing counties to
authorize owners of lots
in rural residential zones
to construct one accessory
dwelling unit (SB 391).
The Oregon Capital
Bureau is a collaboration
between EO Media Group
and Pamplin Media Group.