Portland’s Housing Production Has Collapsed — From 8,000 Units a Year to Under 1,800, and Leaders Are Racing to Fix It
Portland’s multifamily housing production has fallen off a cliff — in 2016 the city issued permits for nearly 8,000 new living units; last year that number fell to fewer than 1,800 — a decline that is hitting Portland’s property tax revenues hard, since Oregon law caps assessed value growth at 3% per year and local governments rely on new development to grow their revenues annually. A recent State of the Economy report found Portland ranked 80 out of 81 cities in attractiveness for investment, according to the Urban Land Institute, with investment funds that typically front cash for large housing developments simply putting their money elsewhere. In response, Governor Kotek and Mayor Wilson co-convened a multifamily housing development work group, and the city has launched a system development charge (SDC) exemption program — with more than 1,700 housing units now at some stage in the permitting process under the SDC waiver, and nearly $6.7 million in fees already waived — to jumpstart stalled projects. For residential contractors in the Portland metro, the policy levers being pulled right now will determine whether the pipeline opens back up or continues to constrict. Washington State Department of Transportation + 2
