As I write this, the first week of the Legislature’s session is wrapping up, and I’ve already seen several county commissioners making the rounds of the State Capitol building (or as Senate President Peter Courtney refers to it, the big marble building with the bowling trophy on top.)

Represented Alissa Keny-Guyer, chair of the House Human Services and Housing Committee, invited me to be part of an informational hearing on the housing crisis. I followed several state officials and a panel from the Meyer Memorial Trust. My challenge was to talk about how the issue has translated to real-world impacts in my county.

I highlighted the economic, educational, health care, public safety and diversity issues that I see flowing from this problem. Coastal communities, like many areas of the state, have seen little to no construction for the moderate- and low-income markets. And like other popular destinations (the Gorge and central Oregon), we’ve seen more of our housing stock consumed by part-time retreats and nightly rentals.

Both public and private employers in Lincoln County have listed housing price, quality and availability as their number one barrier to recruitment and retention for more than a decade. We have almost 1,000 homeless school-age children in the state; that’s one out of every seven students in the district, or 14.5 percent of total enrollment, versus about four percent statewide.

We’ve been working on disaster resiliency a lot in recent years, and I posed the question: what happens when fire, police, EMTs, public works employees and other critical personnel can no longer afford to live in the communities they serve?

This Legislature faces some huge challenges in dealing with a $1.8 billion budget hole. But that doesn’t mean there isn’t the possibility for continued progress on the housing front. The long-term health of our beloved state depends on it.

Contributed by: Commissioner Bill Hall | AOC President | Lincoln County