It's been a busy few weeks for housing in Oregon, and 1000 Friends has been hard at work. We’re advocating for solutions that will help increase our state’s housing supply through smart choices in how and where we build, while working within our land use laws to ensure everyone has access to housing that suits our various needs.
The seven housing bills we are still working on in the legislature are all aimed at making it easier to build more affordable and diverse housing that’s located close to the things people need to get to, such as schools, stores, parks, and more. The many housing efforts in these bills – from changes to the ways our state supports building of manufactured home parks to an encouraging bill to loop Tillamook County into existing housing legislation – support land use Goal 10: Housing.
Midway through 2023’s legislative session, we’re bringing you a short housing roundup, including a win we’re celebrating and the other housing bills we’re still supporting this legislative session.
The Good News First
PASSED | House Bill 2001: Housing for All
We recently celebrated the passage of House Bill 2001 as it made its way from committee through the House and Senate. This bipartisan bill will help fulfill the promise of statewide land use planning Goal 10: Housing – specifically housing for all, in every neighborhood.
Learn more about how HB 2001 gets us back on the housing track thanks to the Oregon Housing Needs Analysis (OHNA). This is a long-overdue update to the way the state and cities plan for and ensure that every community has accessible, affordable, and sufficient housing that is well-located to support fair and equitable housing outcomes, environmental justice, climate resilience, and access to opportunity.
We testified along the way (read testimony here and here), and we were glad to see Governor Kotek sign the bill into law earlier this week.
Bills We’re Still Working On
IN COMMITTEE | House Bill 2983: Manufactured Dwellings and Parks
This bill would appropriate $55 million toward the acquisition and rehabilitation of manufactured home parks and the construction of new ones, by nonprofit organizations, co-ops, and housing authorities. This expands Oregon’s commitment to one of the most affordable, quick-to-build home ownership opportunities for Oregonians.
This bill so far has had widespread support. We hope to see this bill make its way out of the Joint Committee On Ways and Means soon.
PASSED HOUSE, IN SENATE | House Bill 2984: Reuse Commercial Buildings for Workforce Housing
HB 2984 makes it easier to reuse commercial buildings for housing for people with incomes at or below the area median. It opens possibilities for reusing buildings that are well-located and soundly built, but for whom there may no longer be viable commercial use, especially after pandemic-related changes to how and where we shop and work.
This bill passed the House and is now before the Senate Committee on Housing and Development.
PASSED HOUSE, IN SENATE | House Bill 3151: Manufactured Dwellings and Parks
Another bill related to manufactured homes, HB 3151 offers financial protections and incentives to tenants in manufactured home parks, expands the definition of affordable housing to include manufactured home parks, and expands the state’s loan authority to include constructing new parks (not just acquisition of existing parks).
This bill passed the House last week and is now before the Senate Committee on Housing and development.
IN COMMITTEE | House Bill 3309: Multifamily Housing Accessibility
This bill aims to increase our overall supply of accessible housing in Oregon. In particular, it requires the Housing and Community Services Department to assess the amount of housing it funds that includes accessibility features, estimate of the amount of unmet accessible units in the state, review rules and building code standards that are applicable to accessible units, and file a report with the legislature in September 2024 with its findings and any recommendations.
A work session is coming up on April 4 in the House Committee on Housing and Homelessness.
IN COMMITTEE | House Bill 3414: Housing Production Accountability Office
HB 3414 establishes a Housing Production & Accountability Office in the Department of Land Conservation and Development (DLCD) aimed at cutting through unnecessary procedural and other obstacles at the local level, to make it easier to build housing on lands zoned for residential development.
The bill is scheduled for a work session on April 4. We’ll be keeping an eye on the bill as it develops.
IN COMMITTEE | Senate Bill 406: Tillamook County Middle Housing
SB 406 adds cities in Tillamook County to the list of cities around the state that must comply with the middle housing provisions of 2019’s HB 2001 (not to be confused with this year’s housing bill with the same number). 2019’s bill applies only to cities over 10,000 in size, none of which are in Tillamook County. With this bill, the seven incorporated cities in Tillamook County would have to allow middle housing in all their residential zones, and would also be potentially eligible for funding and planning assistance from DLCD.
A work session is coming up on April 3 and we hope to see this bill continue to progress. It is great to see communities stepping up to make sure they are doing all they can to provide housing opportunities for all.
IN COMMITTEE | Senate Bill 847: Diverse & Affordable Housing Inside UGBs
This bill includes a variety of methods to make it easier to develop and site diverse and affordable housing inside urban growth boundaries.
A public hearing on SB 847 was held this week, and the bill is scheduled for a work session on April 4.