The report features extensive data on a variety of aspects of housing in Oregon, including skyrocketing housing prices and a rising number of unsheltered homeless people.
鈥淗omelessness in 2023 is the worst Oregon has seen since the height of the Great Recession," the report reads, noting that the state also ranks worst in the country for unsheltered homelessness among children.
Andrea Bell, executive director of Oregon Housing and Community Services, the state's housing agency, said addressing these problems is urgent.
"Everything is at stake. The quality of life is at stake," she said. "And so even though ... a lot of the work feels data heavy, policy heavy, all of that work is about people. It's about people and making their lives better."
The report was released last week, and the state plans to release an updated version every two years.
It details how Oregon has faced major population growth and housing underproduction on top of the COVID pandemic, as rent increased by 17% between 2020 and 2022.
鈥淥regonians now face the least affordable housing market since the pandemic began in 2020," the report reads.
People of color and those with disabilities were disproportionately impacted by these conditions.
Meanwhile, eviction filings in 2023 were at their highest level since 2011.
The report says Oregon needs to build 500,000 housing units over the next 20 years in order to combat supply issues.
To help address these problems, Bell said the state will work to secure investments and resources to build more housing. They will also work on reviewing policies to make them more effective, including land use and zoning rules.
set the goal of building 36,000 new homes a year every year for the next 10 years.
"The state would need to approximately double its annual housing production each year to address the current shortage and keep pace with demand," the executive order reads.
鈥淥HCS cannot solve the deeply entrenched issues facing the people of Oregon on its own,鈥� Megan Bolton, assistant director of research at OHCS, said in a press release. 鈥淭here are factors beyond housing that impact the ability of individuals to thrive in today鈥檚 economy, and it will take coordination and collaboration with our federal partners, other state agencies, and cities, both large and small, to find ways to ensure housing stability for all Oregonians.鈥�
But there has been some good news.
In Oregon's recent , OHCS said it has built, or has in the pipeline, over 28,000 affordable rental homes, surpassing the five-year goal of up to 25,000 homes.
But major change takes time.
鈥淎lthough the sticker price of homes decreased by 2.3% in 2023, the average single-family home still costs 11% more than pre-pandemic levels, equivalent to an additional $52,000 鈥� a situation unlikely to see swift change," the report reads.
Bell acknowledged that this is a widespread problem that stresses a lot of Oregon families.
"The reality is, across the state of Oregon, no matter which community you call home, housing 鈥� both in terms of lack of affordability and insufficient supply of affordable housing and home ownership 鈥� is one of the main reasons that keep a lot of people up at night," she said.
