This morning, Portland's major daily newspaper, The Oregonian, published an article on the City Club of Portland's report on housing affordability in the city, featuring comments from Thorn Run's Nels Johnson. Mr. Johnson played an integral role in the drafting of the report and noted that there was a "broad agreement on the underlying issue" of providing more 'middle housing' for the city. For Mr. Johnson, the housing issue in Portland requires more urgent action than currently proposed in the state's legislature. "This is a problem that can't wait," Johnson said. "And it's going to require some government intervention."
Portland City Club draft report wants action now on housing, not 'business as usual'
The solution to the housing-affordability crisis gripping the metro area is "action now" and more than just "half-measures and business as usual," the City Club of Portland said in a draft report released Wednesday.
In the report, the civic affairs group's committee on housing affordability argues for lifting the statewide ban on rent control, banning no-cause evictions in Portland and implementing a rental property licensing system in the city, among other approaches.
But there was one sticking point among the committee's 11 members: whether Portland should re-zone single-family neighborhoods to allow for more density. By a narrow 6-5 vote, the committee decided that the city – "in theory," at least – already has the zoning in place to adequately increase density.
"The city must work to overcome neighborhood skepticism about 'missing middle housing,' which is typically multifamily housing built on a scale of single-family structures," the draft report reads. "Duplexes, triplexes, small apartment buildings and courtyard projects could provide affordable housing dispersed throughout established neighborhoods."
The five members on the losing end of the vote, though, issued a minority opinion arguing that simply working to "overcome neighborhood skepticism" does not go far enough, and that the city should re-zone residential areas to allow for more of the multi-family development that the majority of the committee acknowledges is needed.
"The majority's recommendations ask developers to include affordable units in new buildings and ask landlords to limit rent increases and abandon no-cause evictions," the minority opinion reads. "At the same time… Portland's single-family homeowners should be asked to help address the affordability problem by accepting more duplexes, triplexes and other middle housing types on their residential blocks."
The City Club's full membership will vote on whether to accept the report between Friday, April 15 and Wednesday, April 20.
Portland is certainly not the only place where the idea of changing single-family neighborhoods has been somewhat of a political third rail. That concept proved to be the most controversial element of a wide-ranging housing deal reached last year in Seattle, where the mayor had to back away from a proposal to increase density in residential areas. The debate comes as Portland City Hall continues its "residential infill project," an effort to make decisions about the future of density and redevelopment in single-family neighborhoods.
In spite of the disagreement, there was "broad agreement on the underlying issue" among the committee, said M. Nels Johnson, a lobbyist with Thorn Run Partners who chaired the panel. "We need to get more housing to the middle," he said.
Mike Westling, a member of the minority group who works at Brink Communications, said increasing economic diversity in neighborhoods yields better outcomes for low-income children.
"Kids from lower-income families who live in mixed-income neighborhoods actually do better in school," Westling said.
On the rest of the report's conclusions, there was more agreement.
The draft report argues that Portland should dedicate more funding to build publicly subsidized units and should consider implementing linkage fees, a voter-approved housing levy or a general obligation bond to accomplish that feat. Additionally, the city, its urban renewal agency and Metro should "develop a housing land bank strategy to put money away during strong economic times for use in purchasing properties during downturns" for affordable housing, the committee recommended.
The committee was also somewhat critical of the housing package recently approved by the Oregon Legislature, saying it "makes incremental progress" and was "scaled back." The draft report recommends strengthening that deal to include increased protections for renters such as a ban on no-cause evictions and lifting the statewide preemption on rent control.
"This is a problem that can't wait," Johnson said. "And it's going to require some government intervention."