Workshops Aim To Identify Ways to Help City-County Efforts to “Move Needle” on Local Housing Needs
In recent weeks, AOC County Solutions in partnership with the League of Oregon Cities (LOC), the Oregon Housing and Community Services Department (OHCS) and the Oregon Department of Land Conservation and Development (DLCD) has conducted six housing workshops across Oregon.
Workshops have been co-hosted by county commissioners in John Day (Judge Shaffer), Hermiston (Commissioner Elfering), Madras (Commissioner Huston), Coos Bay (Commissioners Court Boice and Commissioner Cribbins), Medford (Commissioner Minty Morris and Commissioner Roberts), and Cottage Grove (Commissioner Farr and Commissioner Williams). Additional workshops will be held in Salem on June 12th and in Tillamook on June 20th.
The workshops have been designed to around two preliminary objectives:
(1) to identify specific, local needs for technical assistance related to housing; and
(2) to identify opportunities for ongoing County-City led collaboration efforts to address local housing challenges.
Emerging AOC-LOC-OHCS-DLCD Housing Workshop Themes
Even though the communities have been held in areas of the state with different housing challenges, common kinds of needed housing assistance have included:
- Statewide and regional efforts to address under-supply of housing related construction trade workforce, especially in electrical and plumbing
- The ongoing needs for cities and counties to work side by side on housing development that overlap with related economic development as well social service needs of seniors, veterans and individuals with mental illness
- Support for elected Mayors, City Councilors and County Commissioners and Judges to convene housing partners on a consistent basis over the months and years needed to pursue local solutions
- Help for communities to transition from “planning” to “action” phase, i.e. to shift from housing needs assessment/buildable land inventories efforts to actual creation of housing units
- The need for “packaging” different funding sources and incentives to be matched with specific parcels of land and projects
- Need to help bring lenders, developers, appraisers and others to help evaluate preliminary development options and the kinds of specific incentives needed to launch more projects
- The desire to see a statewide knowledge bank of innovative housing programs operating in the state and research about Oregon-based solutions. The knowledge bank will be a location to find solutions, offer answers, share research, and contact subject-matter experts.
Contributed by: Andy Smith | AOC Policy Manager