Urban Growth Boundary Did Not Make Portland Unaffordable

"A new book from Island Press, The Portland Edge, ...casts further doubt on the idea that the urban growth boundary has driven prices to uncomfortable heights. In one of the book’s sharpest essays, Deborah Howe acknowledges that the median price of existing single-family homes in the region has risen substantially — from $104,743 in 1990 (measured in 2000 dollars) to $160,217 in 2000. But Howe, a professor of urban studies and planning at Portland State, notes that 'a large part of the housing price increase during the 1990s came from substantial investments in housing rehabilitation and renovation.' "