Oregon House OKs end to exclusive single-family zoning
SALEM, Ore. (AP) — The Oregon Legislature is one vote away from passing a first-in-the-nation law ending exclusive single-family zoning in much of the state.
Oregon Public Broadcasting reports the measure passed the state House Thursday on a bipartisan 43-16 vote and now moves to the Senate, where it could get tangled up by a walkout of Republican senators seeking to block a major climate change bill.
House Bill 2001 would require larger cities to allow increased density in single-family neighborhoods, and in many cases it would include up to four units on a single lot.
The measure summary indicates it would require cities of more than 10,000 or within Portland’s Metropolitan Service District to allow duplexes in lands zoned for single-family homes within urban growth boundaries.
OPB reports Kotek worked throughout the session to make the bill more palatable to localities. Cities between 10,000 and 25,000 in population outside the Portland urban area would only have to allow duplexes. And other cities subject to the measure would have more flexibility in siting triplexes, fourplexes and cottage clusters.
This measure is the Legislature’s major attempt to increase housing supply as a way to help end price spikes that have increasingly made it hard to buy and rent homes in many parts of the state. Earlier in the session, the Legislature passed a bill capping the size of rent hikes, and lawmakers are also putting more money into affordable housing.
House Speaker Tina Kotek, D-Portland, has made the bill one of her top priorities, and she put together a bipartisan coalition that overcame the opposition of many neighborhood activists and the League of Oregon Cities.
