LOC News
60-Day Housing Package Advances with Bipartisan Vote
This week, the House Housing and Homelessness Committee passed HB 2001A with bipartisan support. The bill now moves to the Ways and Means Committee, where it will be paired with a companion funding bill, HB 5019-3. Together, the two bills make up the 60-day housing package, which is intended to pass by mid-March.
The 60-day housing package includes the following:
- $33.6 million to prevent homelessness statewide;
- $85.2 million to rehouse people experiencing homelessness and expand shelter capacity in emergency areas;
- $27.4 million to rehouse people experiencing homelessness and expand shelter capacity in the 26 rural counties that make up the Balance of State Continuum of Care;
- $5 million to federally recognized Tribes to address homelessness needs among tribal members statewide;
- $3.9 million for emergency management response (OHCS and ODEM);
- $25 million for programs supporting unhoused youth;
- $20 million for modular home production to rapidly deploy affordable housing;
- $3 million in a revolving loan fund to incentivize housing development with predevelopment loans for moderate-income housing;
- $5 million to improve on-site workforce housing for agricultural workers;
- A compromise between tenant advocates and landlords that provides renters faced with eviction for non-payment with more time to access rental assistance and other services that will help them stay in their homes. The proposal lengthens the eviction notice timeline from 72 hours to 10 days and includes a right of redemption; and
- The Oregon Housing Needs Analysis (OHNA) program, previously introduced as HB 2889, which the LOC closely negotiated.
The Oregon Housing Needs Analysis builds off previous legislation (HB 2003, 2019), that set cities with a population of 10,000 or more on a six-to-eight-year schedule to complete a housing needs analysis (HNA), then requires those cities to adopt a housing production strategy (HPS) one year following their HNA adoption deadline. The HPS must outline a list of specific tools, actions, and policies that the city plans to utilize to address the housing needs identified in the HNA. Under HB 2001A, the state will set housing development targets for cities, track production progress, and take corrective measures for cities not in compliance. The LOC closely negotiated this bill to ensure cities are not set up to fail or evaluated unfairly, and to ensure the bill clearly distinguishes between factors within a city's control and those outside a city’s control, including market factors and land availability.
Contact: Ariel Nelson, Lobbyist – anelson@orcities.org
Last Updated 3/3/23