LOC News
Housing and Infrastructure Bills Pass the Senate
Two significant housing packages passed the Senate floor on Thursday, February 29 with bipartisan approval and are headed to the House floor for final votes next week:
SB 1537B – Governor Kotek’s Housing Production Package – does the following:
- Establishes a new Housing Accountability and Production Office with $5 million for local technical assistance grants;
- Requires cities to grant up to 10 administrative adjustments to local siting and design standards for housing development;
- Establishes and funds a new state revolving loan fund with $75 million for local governments to administer loans for moderate-income housing development; and
- Allocates $3 million to Business Oregon to help small and rural local governments access infrastructure programs; and
- Provides a one-time Urban Growth Boundary (UGB) expansion tool, among other land use changes.
Meanwhile, SB 1530B includes funding for a variety of affordable housing programs and infrastructure investments, including $65 million to keep existing shelters open this biennium, and $100 million in direct grants to cities for site-specific infrastructure investments to support needed housing.
In addition, the Housing Oregon’s Workforce (HOW) bill (HB 4134A) passed out of the Joint Ways and Means Committee on Wednesday, February 28 and a vote on the House floor is expected in the coming days. The bill includes direct grants to cities to support housing developments in which at least 30% of the units are affordable to households earning 130% or less of county median income.
Contact: Ariel Nelson, Lobbyist – anelson@orcities.org
Last Updated 3/1/24