When lawmakers convened Jan. 17 to kick off the 82nd legislative session, Speaker Dan Rayfield made it clear that he would be joining Gov. Tina Kotek in making housing and homelessness the top priority.
Rayfield called on lawmakers to deliver a package of housing investments in the first 60 days of the session and Kotek proposed an “urgent” $130 million investment to get 1,200 Oregonians experiencing unsheltered homelessness off the streets within a year.
Wednesday, the Oregon House got the plan halfway there, passing the $200 million Affordable Housing and Emergency Homelessness Response Package. It includes the $130 million Kotek requested.
The bills now advance to the Senate and then, if successful there, possibly become the first bills Kotek signs into law as governor.
House Bills 5019 and 2001 make up the package and received bipartisan support.
HB 5019 passed the House 49-10, with one lawmaker absent. HB 2001 passed 50-9, with one lawmaker absent.
Millions toward Oregon housing, shelters, youth
Kotek’s proposed investments were accepted with millions earmarked for resources to increase shelter capacity and prevent more Oregonians from becoming homeless. Proposed funding includes:
- $33.6 million for rent assistance and other eviction prevention services to prevent an estimated 8,750 households from becoming homeless.
- $23.8 million for 600 low-barrier shelter beds across the state and for more housing navigators to connect unsheltered Oregonians to shelter and services.
- $55.4 million for prepaid rental assistance to rehouse at least 1,200 unsheltered households, block leasing at least 600 vacant homes, landlord guarantees and incentives, and other re-housing services.
- $5 million for the nine sovereign tribes in Oregon to support emergency response.
- $5 million toward increasing capacity for culturally responsive organizations
. - $2 million to support local sanitation services.
- $1.8 million to support the Office of Emergency Management and Oregon Housing and Community Services in their emergency response.
Democrats added additional proposed funding toward housing and to support rural counties:
- $25 million for homeless youth, specifically connecting youth with rental assistance, shelter facilities, outreach, mental health and/or substance abuse services, and other resources.
- $27 million to address homelessness in 25 rural counties that are not included in Kotek’s declaration of emergency.
- $20 million towards the production of affordable modular homes.
- $5 million in grants for farmers to improve the health and safety conditions at farm worker camps that do not currently meet standards.
- $3 million in revolving loans that builders can use to pay for predevelopment costs for affordable homes for Oregonians making 80-120% of the median income in their area.
New policy
The package also proposes changes to Oregon’s land use system and eviction process.
Cities with a population of more than 10,000 people would be required to set building targets for specific income levels and then build them.
The hope is to address a critical shortage of housing. An Oregon Housing Needs Analysis determined the state is more than 100,000 housing units short and needs to build more than half a million homes in the next two decades to meet expected demand.
The Housing and Community Services Department would also be required to update a publicly available statewide housing production dashboard on an annual basis to include updates on the progress toward housing production by affordability levels, total housing targets and analysis of progress in comparison to the region and other local governments with similar market types.
Cities that fail to meet their building targets would face action from the state Department of Land Conservation. The agency could obtain a judge’s order to force non-compliant cities to comply or force a city to forfeit grant funds or other state funding.
Renters faced with eviction for non-payment would have more time to access rental assistance and other services that could help them stay in their homes by lengthening the eviction notice timeline from 72 hours to 10 days. It would also extend court timelines, changing the initial appearance to 15 days after a complaint is filed instead of the current seven days, and require the trial to begin 15-30 days after the claim for nonpayment.
“Every Oregonian deserves to have access to safe and affordable housing in the community of their choice,” Rep. Maxine Dexter, D-Portland, said on the House floor. Dexter serves as chair of the House Committee on Housing and Homelessness. “We have answered this moment of intense need with a swift and collaborative response. I am proud to put forth this package that will deliver relief to every corner of the state.”
Rep. David Gomberg, D-Otis, outlined the bill on the House floor and said he believed passage of the package would be the “signature accomplishment” of this session.
Gomberg also spoke about the importance of including rural counties in the package, helping “connect rural and coastal Oregonians living on the street with the critical services they need and on the path out of homelessness.”
Other Democrats celebrated different components of the package before the vote.
Rep. Lisa Reynolds, D-Beaverton, celebrated the “largest-ever investment in solving youth homelessness.”
Investing in youth is critical in addressing the ongoing crisis, Reynolds said. In 2021, 70% of unsheltered adults reported also experiencing homelessness as a youth in Marion and Polk counties.
‘Dealt a bad hand’:Homeless youth in Oregon have a plan to save themselves
By intervening as early as possible, the state can drastically reduce adults entering homelessness, Reynolds said.
Rep. E. Werner Reschke, R-Crater Lake, was one of the only Republicans to explain his no vote, expressing discomfort with the “housing first” approach and early session spending. Reschke said the bill was “doomed to fail” but added that he hoped to be proven wrong.
Overall, the package received bipartisan support.
“The urgency to address Oregon’s housing shortage is long overdue. Republicans are focused and ready to solve problems in Oregon, and while this legislation takes a crack at it, it does not do enough,” House Republican Leader Vikki Breese-Iverson, R-Prineville, said in a statement after the vote.
The package will now move on to the Oregon Senate.
Dianne Lugo covers the Oregon Legislature and equity issues. Reach her at dlugo@statesmanjournal.com or on Twitter @DianneLugo.
