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Governor Tina Kotek and the City of Portland Mayor Keith Wilson announced a series of actions they will take to spur multifamily housing construction in Portland. The commitments were informed by recommendations made by the Multifamily Housing Development Workgroup, convened by the Governor and Mayor this spring. They were joined by Portland City Councilor Dan Ryan, Smart Growth Board President Sarah Zahn, Tom Kilbane, Managing Director at Urban Renaissance Group, and Andrew Colas, CEO at Colas Construction, Inc.

“I believe in a vision for Oregon and for Portland where everyone can afford a home, where people can live in the places they want and still make ends meet at the end of the month,” Governor Kotek said. Rolling up our sleeves together like this is how we are going to make that happen. Thank you to Mayor Wilson for convening this work group with me and to the developers who shared their experiences to guide these actions.”

"Portland is open for business — for housing, for opportunity, and for a thriving future,” Portland Mayor Keith Wilson said. “By expanding Self-Certification and investing in office-to-housing conversions, we are cutting red tape and accelerating the creation of much-needed homes for Portlanders."

More Permits, Faster

The Governor is committed to helping the City of Portland issue housing construction permits more efficiently and helping builders break ground quicker, thereby bringing down the cost of construction and eventual cost to Oregonians. She directed the Building Codes Division (BCD) of the Department of Consumer and Business Services (DCBS) to provide Portland with staff support to help them improve local permitting processes, including engagement with the process improvement study commissioned by the Housing Accountability and Production Office (HAPO).

The Governor also directed BCD to execute a Building Evaluation Support Agreement (BESA) with the City of Portland, a voluntary mutual aid agreement to efficiently share plan review and inspection resources to keep construction moving.

The Mayor announced a commitment to reboot the Self-Certification Program and launch a Third-Party Plan Review as part of its permit improvement work. Self-Certification refers to a process where a licensed design professional can certify that their submitted plans meet all applicable building codes and regulations, thereby bypassing full building code plan review for certain types of projects. Together, these two programs will reduce permitting times and spur housing production.

Office-to-Housing Conversion

The Governor directed Business Oregon to designate office-to-housing conversion projects in Portland as essential to the economic well-being of the state, allowing BCD to partner with the City and developers to put together a rapid approval assessment team to oversee the effort and share the review and inspection responsibilities. The state leaning into these projects will incentivize more projects, help the City coordinate services, and make projects more predictable.

The Mayor announced a $15 million Notice of Funding Opportunity to be released later this year for a middle-income office-to-residential housing development in the Central City. These office-to-residential conversion projects help revitalize Portland’s urban core and promote the reuse of existing buildings.

Economic Development

The Governor also committed to bringing together and mobilizing Portland’s economic organizations to continue advancing Portland’s recovery. Working with local and regional partners, the Governor’s Office will create a six-month economic development strategy. The strategy builds on existing economic development plans like Prosper Portland’s Advance Portland, and identifies short-, medium-, and long-term tactics to keep businesses in Portland and recruit more businesses to set up shop, too.

Builder’s Remedy: Allowing More Affordable Housing

The Governor committed to exploring how a policy called the Builder’s Remedy, modeled after legislation in California, could work to bolster housing production in Oregon. The California Legislature passed the Builder’s Remedy, which limits denials of projects with affordable housing when local jurisdictions are out of compliance with state production laws.

The Governor and Mayor also reaffirmed their commitment to kick start the building of 5,000 multifamily housing units over the next three years by waiving System Development Charges during that time. They also jointly committed to continue reviewing the work group’s recommendations, to meet with investors in partnership with the City of Portland and multifamily housing developers.

Source: Oregon Governor's Office

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