Planning to fulfill the housing needs of all Oregonians is more crucial than ever. DLCD encourages cities to provide abundant housing for Oregonians of all income levels. Goal 10 provides planning guidelines for addressing the housing needs of local communities. The guidelines, tools, and resources below were collected to assist local planners in the implementation of Goal 10. Additionally, DLCD is administering a new pilot program to boost affordable housing in Oregon as directed by the Oregon legislature in 2016.
Related OARs: 660-007, 660-008, 660-039
Housing Choices and Supply: House Bills 2001 & 2003
In 2019, the Oregon Legislature passed two important laws – House Bill 2001 and House Bill 2003. House Bill 2001 aims to provide Oregonians with more housing choices, especially housing choices more people can afford. The new law lets people build certain traditional housing types, like duplexes, in residential zones. These housing types already exist in most cities, but were outlawed for decades in many neighborhoods.
House Bill 2003 aims to improve local housing production strategies. The law requires medium and large cities to study the future housing needs of their residents and to develop strategies to make sure that housing is produced. The bill also directs the Oregon Housing and Community Services Department to look at what housing needs exist for the next 20 years in each region of the state and for all income levels, and to examine how those needs can be met.
More information about House Bill 2001 (2019)
More information about House Bill 2003 (2019)
Oregon Housing Planning Project
In 2018, the Oregon Legislature allocated $1.73 million to the Department of Land Conservation and Development (DLCD) for housing planning technical assistance in House Bill 4006 (2018). The bill allocates funding "for the purpose of providing technical assistance to local governments in increasing the affordability of housing." Funding from this program must be expended by June 30, 2019. For more information about this project, go to the Oregon Housing Planning Project page.
Affordable Housing Pilot Program
In late 2017, DLCD selected two cities to participate in an affordable housing pilot program. In short, this program will allow the selected cities to expand their urban growth boundary (UGB) to develop affordable housing without going through the normal UGB expansion process. To learn more details, go to the Affordable Housing Pilot Program page.
Space-Efficient Housing
Intended or not, many zoning codes in Oregon tend to encourage development of large, detached homes to the exclusion of anything else. Yet, researchers found that denser housing configurations that are combined with an appropriate mix of other uses produce more walkable and less auto-oriented neighborhoods.
A report from the Transportation and Growth Management program (TGM) builds on research of the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality in identifying ways to reduce carbon and energy impacts of housing. The environmental agency found that building smaller homes was among the best ways to reduce that impact.
The Space-Efficient Housing page provides a summary of this report, recommendations for specific housing types, and links to download a copy of the report.
Manuals and Toolkits
The Housing Choices Guidebook provides 43 concrete examples of housing options in Northwest Oregon. Each example is more compact than detached single dwellings; most are more affordable. Each has photos, an address, and other useful details.
- Guidance on Implementing the Accessory Dwelling Units (ADU) Requirement, DLCD, September 2019. In 2017, the Oregon legislature passed a law (Senate Bill 1051) requiring cities of over 2,500 population to allow accessory dwelling units (aka "granny flats") in areas zoned for single-family homes. This publication summarizes the law's details and recommendations for implementing it locally, with sample code language. This document was updated in September 2019 to address the owner occupancy and off-street parking requirements of House Bill 2001 (2019).
- Measures to Encourage Affordable Housing, DLCD, February 2017. This document is a 1-page summary of possible local code provisions to encourage more affordable and needed housing. This document was created during DLCD’s rulemaking process to implement House Bill 4079 (2016).
- Housing Development Toolkit, The White House, September 2016. This toolkit highlights some actions states and cities have taken to promote healthy housing markets.
- Model Code for Small Cities, DLCD and ODOT, November 2015. This model development code was created to give cities guidance and technical expertise in zoning, development standards, review procedures, and implementation of state planning rules and statutes.
- Parking Management: A powerful tool to meet community goals, DLCD and ODOT. Building required parking can have a big impact on housing costs. These resources guide cities on why and how to reform parking requirements.
- Housing Choices: Self-Guided Tour on Infill Housing, City of Milwaukie, Oregon, April 2011. The city published a self-guided tour to encourage residents to visit and see some forms of housing in person. The guide provides real life examples of many forms of affordable housing units.
- Affordable-Accessible Housing in a Dynamic City: Why and How to Increase Affordable Housing in Accessible Neighborhoods, Victoria Transport Policy Institute, 2017
- Planning for Residential Growth: A Workbook for Oregon’s Urban Areas, DLCD and ODOT, June 1997.
Research on Housing
Additional Resources