The Affordable Housing Game Has Changed in Oregon

"The Portland Housing Bureau is preparing to hit the reset button on its 2016 affordable housing bond after voters gave cities more flexibility to spend bond dollars," reports Elliot Njus.

Measure 102, a constitutional amendment approved by voters this November, allows local governments to put money toward the private development of affordable housing, a change which also changed the legal calculus of the city's responsibilities to meet affordable housing goals.

The city's responsibilities have also changed, after voters in Multnomah, Washington, and Clackamas counties around Portland also approved Ballot Measure 26-199, which authorized $652.8 million in bond funding. That bond funding comes with new strings attached, namely "to create 1,300 homes, half of them with two or more bedrooms for families and 600 within reach for households making less than 60 percent of the area median income."