Portland’s Fee-Waiver Housing Program Shows Early Movement, But Ground-Breaking Lags

Portland’s push to jumpstart housing construction through temporary fee waivers is showing some early signs of traction, though city officials acknowledge the data doesn’t yet tell a clear story.

In a memo to city councilors, officials reported “promising results” in the first five months of the program, which temporarily waives certain development fees the city normally requires. Since the waiver policy took effect, the city has received requests covering projects that could produce roughly 1,720 new apartments and houses — and officials point to a modest year-over-year increase in new housing permits as an early positive sign.

The catch: only a small share of those permitted projects have actually broken ground so far. That gap between permits requested and shovels in the ground makes it difficult to say definitively whether the waivers are driving new construction decisions or simply subsidizing projects that were already penciled to move forward.

The financial stakes are real. If the current pace of waiver requests holds, the city could forfeit around $32 million in fee revenue — a trade-off city leaders are betting will pay off in housing supply, at a moment when Governor Kotek and Portland officials have been pushing builders to focus on market-rate as well as affordable units.

For contractors and developers, the program is worth watching for how long it stays in effect and whether the permit-to-groundbreaking gap closes — or widens — as more data comes in.

Source:

• OPB, “Portland says new housing incentive program is working, yet data is inconclusive” — https://www.opb.org/article/2026/03/03/portland-claims-new-housing-program-works-but-data-inconclusive/