There is a housing crisis. Not just here in Oregon, but nationwide. Simply put, there are not enough houses being built. This first started with the Great Recession. Many builders and developers shut down for about 4 years. When the housing market rebounded, the builders and developers simply did not catch back up. I heard a panel of economists on a Bloomberg podcast about a year ago quote the statistic that to meet demand nationwide, 3,000,000 new housing units need to be built each year. These can be small apartments or mega mansions, the housing need is in every shape and size. At the time of the podcast, the average being built annually was 1,300,000: not even half of the demand.
Our new Governor, Tina Kotek, has made construction of housing a top priority in her administration. To accomplish this, she is putting everything on the table, including revising, or perhaps even removing, tree ordinances. While I truly admire her willingness to open the conversation to every option, our stewardship of the environment is also a top priority for the citizens of this state. As you can imagine, it’s creating some real conversations (or should I say arguments?).
Steve Duin has written an excellent article on the subject that can be found at Oregonlive.com. To read it, click here. Interesting side note. I’ve been a big fan of the writings of Steve Duin for years. The Oregonian was a part of my daily routine and I always looked forward to Steve’s columns. Also, the very first house that I ever listed for sale in my real estate career was purchased by Steve. He still lives in that house.
To give you a summation of the article, he has in the past argued that the Urban Growth Boundary is part of the problem. In this article he admits to being taken to the woodshed by people who know better and that the real problem is not a lack of land, it’s a lack of infrastructure. Historically, infrastructure was subsidized by the Federal government. That financial support was eliminated by the Reagan administration. We have plenty of developable land currently within the UGB, trees and all, but the development costs are a huge obstacle to getting the housing built. I encourage you to read the article.
This is a bit off course from what I usually write. I hope that you have found it as interesting as I have.
Dianne