We are slow walking into a massive disaster. Portland's housing shortage stands to get exponentially worse without significant reforms and initiative to build more housing. graph via slideshow to city ecdev committee www.portland.gov/sites/defaul... (h/t eagle eye @maccoinnich.bsky.social) - ThreadSky

pnwelcome.bsky.social • 1 day ago

We are slow walking into a massive disaster.

Portland's housing shortage stands to get exponentially worse without significant reforms and initiative to build more housing.

graph via slideshow to city ecdev committee
https://www.portland.gov/sites/default/files/council-documents/2025/SOTE-City_EcDev_committee_02_25_25_0_0.pdf

(h/t eagle eye @maccoinnich.bsky.social)

Comments

emma321.bsky.social•1 day ago

Additionally a recent RE report shows us as no 80 of 81 in "real estate appeal."

emma321.bsky.social•1 day ago

Can you explain what you mean by housing shortage in today's Portland? I see so many empty rentals and homes that are not selling. Rents have been flat for years as well.

robgalanakis.bsky.social•1 day ago

The problem has to do with mismatched supply and demand. Real estate is expensive so many things do not pencil out, even though there are many people seeking homes. The goal is to offer more variety, and to do that, it has to pencil for developers.

emma321.bsky.social•1 day ago

We definitely need more variety that is for sure

robgalanakis.bsky.social•1 day ago

High housing costs usually indicate high demand, and they still do, but there are other dynamics going on. But they explain a small amount of price. Also we don't have much vacancy or excess inventory, competitively, iirc.

emma321.bsky.social•1 day ago

here I thought high housing costs (not rents, cost to purchase) was because of lack of supply

robgalanakis.bsky.social•1 day ago

They are! My post is why high cost/demand doesn't always mean an increase in supply.

robgalanakis.bsky.social•1 day ago

If all it makes sense to build is luxury SFH or towers, nothing gets built, because neither of those have much demand. But many other types do.

emma321.bsky.social•1 day ago

There are not really areas to build much SFHs though. Last major development in the city limits was 3 decades ago

tonyjordan.bsky.social•1 day ago

The trend over the last 20 years (until very recently) was to do 1:1 teardowns of smaller homes replaced with somwehat grotesquely large single family homes. Then for a few years it was a teardown with a huge duplex with an all-garage ground floor....

spokanerising.com•1 day ago

What is Portland like from an impact fee, connection charge, or mandatory inclusionary housing perspective? Could this be driven in part by the level of charges levied on developers?

mrtuckerbaum.bsky.social•22 hours ago

Good question! We’re advocating for suspension of some System Development Charges and reduction of others - it’s likely contributing but not the whole story. Inclusionary zoning in Portland is fully-funded, so that shouldn’t be a barrier.

marts-thoughts.bsky.social•1 day ago

LEt tHe mArKeT dEciDe!

monewsdaily.bsky.social•1 day ago

Pssst: everyone is leaving due to the insane taxation

You'll get your lower cost home availability soon

But you won't have the tax revenue for all the hot messes created

tmccormick.org•1 day ago

what current or anticipated #OregonLegislation2025 are you supporting particularly?

fischer.bsky.social•1 day ago

SB 684 (senator pham’s mixed income revolving loan fund bill) is the thing that I think most directly addresses this issue

tmccormick.org•23 hours ago

agree, #SB684 from @khanhphamforor.bsky.social (https://olis.oregonlegislature.gov/liz/2025R1/Measures/Overview/SB684) is high on my list, seems interesting, & like California 2023-24 #AB2665 Housing finance: Mixed Income Revolving Loan Program introduced by @votealexlee.bsky.social: https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202320240AB2665

fischer.bsky.social•23 hours ago

yes! the center for public enterprise has done some good work documenting how that approach can stabilize the housing business cycle in moments like this https://publicenterprise.org/the-basic-logistics-of-public-development/

tmccormick.org•23 hours ago

yes @publicenterprise.bsky.social. Re: #SB684, it's an interesting new direction, but $75M it seeks doesn't go far with current processes. I think for Oregon 2025-, what's most significant is what happens with Kotek's Recommended Budget https://www.oregon.gov/gov/pages/governors-recommended-budget.aspx, especially $800M ask for LIFT

amendez.bsky.social•1 day ago

Governor Kotek’s housing bill (HB 3031) would establish a new Housing Infrastructure program to fund water, sewer, stormwater, and transportation infrastructure linked to new housing development.

bfryback.bsky.social•1 day ago

sounds like this might just enable more sprawl. transportation impacts here in Salem don't even consider the needs of people that don't drive

wilsonxcassie.bsky.social•1 day ago

There’s honestly a lot of development within UGBs in areas with poor active transpo connections so it’d be nice if this $$ goes to that

bfryback.bsky.social•1 day ago

i agree, but I've been told by staff here in Salem that we can't require the developer to do anything that exceeds standard... perhaps we just need to update our standards (working on that rn)

wilsonxcassie.bsky.social•1 day ago

I wonder if these funds would somehow be different for that reason

tmccormick.org•1 day ago

yes I'm tracking #HB3031, though am skeptical. Local leaders always like higher govts to pay for what they want. With #infrastructure like this, imo it often might & should come from the #LandValueUplift it creates. Vs #SocializingCostsPrivatizingGains
https://quoteinvestigator.com/2024/09/29/costs-profits/

pnwelcome.bsky.social•1 day ago

To fix this, PNW has a few ideas:

Locally, we are pushing the city to legalize four floors + corner stores throughout the Central Eastside - we need to ensure the city includes funding to advance studies of this proposal in this year's upcoming budget:
https://portlandneighborswelcome.org/inner-eastside-for-all

pnwelcome.bsky.social•1 day ago

And in the weeks ahead, we'll ask for help to lobby the Oregon Legislature on a handful of bills to help streamline construction of both market-rate and affordable housing, including housing regulation reform and state provision of discounted interest loans for construction of mixed-income housing.

pnwelcome.bsky.social•1 day ago

We need your help on these efforts!

Consider becoming a member of PNW, or sign up for our email list to get all the latest on how you can join us in demanding local elected officials prioritize building more housing for all Portlanders.

https://portlandneighborswelcome.org/get-involved

pnwelcome.bsky.social•1 day ago

Save the Date!

Do you want to learn how to give killer testimony to help support all of our pro-housing bills at the city and state?

P:NW is hosting a testimony training session next Thursday, Feb 27, Lucky Lab SE (915 SE Hawthorne)

Come learn how to share your story about we need more housing!

Comments

Posting Rules

Reply