6 days Ago
SALEM, Ore. — Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek is pushing forward House Bill 2138 , a housing reform bill aimed at tackling the state's housing crisis by making it easier and faster to build middle housing, reducing construction costs and streamlining permitting processes.
Kotek, who has championed the bill and made solving the housing crisis a key priority since taking office, called it the culmination of more than a year of work to build on existing policies and make Oregon a leader in housing innovation. "The goal of HB 2138 is to build on the bold, bipartisan policies already in place and continue to work on those to make Oregon a national leader in innovative housing policies that will bring down the cost of housing," Kotek said. The bill seeks to legalize more housing choices, including duplexes, triplexes, quadplexes, townhouses and cottage clusters.
It also expands zoning rules to allow middle housing in more areas, including urban unincorporated lands, and prevents local governments from downzoning or reducing housing density within urban growth boundaries. By removing restrictions on duplexes, triplexes and other multi-unit homes, the bill aims to maximize the number of homes that can be built on existing land, helping Oregon address its severe housing shortage without requiring major urban sprawl. "The bill also cuts unnecessary red tape so it's easier to build more kinds of affordable homes," Kotek added.
"Developers still face too many requirements that slow or stop their projects." Jesse Russell, owner of Hiatus Homes in Bend, emphasized the impact that excessive paperwork has on construction costs. "If we can reduce the time from one year to six months just to get through what's really pushing paperwork, that can save hundreds of thousands of dollars," he said.
The bill proposes measures to speed up the approval process for building permits and land divisions, which could help address housing shortages more quickly. "Generally, if we don't have more housing options and better affordability, our communities will not be able to thrive," Kotek said. While Rep.
Vikki Breese Iverson (R-Prineville) supports the bill's focus on middle housing, she believes it doesn't go far enough. "HB 2138 is a good start, and it does just what you're talking about—it focuses mainly on middle housing, which is those multiplexes, quadplexes, etc. It doesn't also include single-family housing," Breese Iverson said.
"We need to do this with single-family homes, so that we have more homes available to answer the housing crisis." Iverson and other Republicans argue that Oregon also needs more land, infrastructure investments and regulatory rollbacks to support housing construction across the board. "We need to look at the whole spectrum of housing for Oregonians, and middle housing is a great place to start," she added.
Republican lawmakers have introduced bills to loosen regulations and increase first-time homebuyer support. "We've got a couple of bills in session that have been heard that had good feedback, and they're going to make some dollars available for first-time homebuyers," Iverson said. Kotek has set ambitious housing targets, but Breese Iverson says the state still has a long way to go.
"She hasn't answered the goal, but she is definitely looking at what it is that we need to do to answer the goal," Breese Iverson said. She warned that the real test of the bills will be whether it leads to more homes being built. "We can put a lot of things on paper, but if what we pass doesn't translate to easier processes and more homes being built, then we need to figure out where those fixes need to happen," she said.
HB 2138 now moves through the legislative process, where its final form will determine just how much impact it has on Oregon's housing market..
