Despite better-than-expected results from multiple local housing bonds, housing costs and homelessness remain top of mind for many Oregonians.
A Portland housing bond has yielded more new affordable housing than expected. According to an article by Jared Brey in Governing, the $650 million bond has created almost 5,000 housing units. A report from the Oregon Metro Council expects the bond to create 5,600 units by the time the bond money is all spent.
For developers, the availability of public bond funds has made it possible to do more projects, to add more units or larger units to a planned building, or to offer deeper subsidies for some units.
Despite this success, housing affordability in the region remains a problem, and the cost of building new tax credit housing is twice what it was five years ago. “And in recent years, the costs of housing development have risen substantially due to inflation, labor costs, uncertainty around tariff policy and lower sale value for Low-Income Housing Tax Credits.” Meanwhile, an Oregon case was at the heart of a Supreme Court decision that paved the way for more punitive anti-homelessness measures across the nation.
Read the full story: How Oregon’s Housing Bonds Outperformed Expectations
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