Dive Brief:
- Two new Oregon laws aim to bolster housing development — specifically “missing middle” housing.
- HB 2258 lets the state override a city or county’s zoning law and permit multiple types of housing to be built in urban growth areas, Sightline Institute reported. HB 2138, signed into law at the same time, “legalizes and speeds up the production of middle housing,” according to the office of Gov. Tina Kotek, by requiring cities and counties to alter zoning laws to permit missing middle housing in less densely populated residential areas.
- “We have to invest in affordable housing projects,” Kotek said upon signing the bipartisan bills. “We have to help our cities and counties build the infrastructure they need to start building new homes.”
Dive Insight:
“Missing middle housing” refers to more affordable housing options such as duplexes, fourplexes, townhomes and small single-unit dwellings. The housing types are often illegal or difficult to build due to restrictive zoning laws that have favored single-family homes since the 1940s.
Like much of the U.S., Oregon is in the midst of a severe housing shortage. Between 2015 and 2019, the state’s population growth outpaced its housing development by a factor of three to one. In recent years, the state has begun taking steps to take more control over zoning, historically left to cities and counties, to enact measures to encourage missing middle housing development.
“We have to cut red tape and get out of our own way,” Kotek stated.
Last year, Portland, the state’s largest city, also began making changes to its zoning codes to allow more multifamily housing in more parts of the city. It represented the first zoning changes in the city since the 1970s.
