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re:PDX is written by Ron Ares, broker and market analyst affiliated with M Realty LLC in Portland, Oregon.
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Government Agencies Address Affordable Homeownership
In a previous post, I noted that the Portland Metropolitan Realtor Association (PMAR) is keeping tabs on affordable homeownership initiatives in the area. PMAR reports that the City of Portland and Metro have both recently adopted resolutions to address affordable homeownership issues.
The City of Portland has directed their staff to work with Portland school districts and other interested partners to attract and retain families to the city’s neighborhoods.
Known as the Schools, Family and Housing Initiative, the housing plan will be marketed through the public school district, although the details of fund sources, qualifying requirements and such will not be known for some months. If you’ve been reading about the Portland Public School district, you know that school funding has been a hot, politically charged issue. More details are found in Commissioner Erik Sten’s public statement.
The city also approved a resolution to plan for development, preservation, and rehabilitation of affordable housing funded by up to 30% of the city’s Urban Renewal District (URD) budgets. Normally, this reinvestment of property taxes from URDs goes directly back to capital improvements for the district and is intended to strengthen the area tax base. This is the first time affordable housing will be addressed by URD tax money.
On a broader scale, the regional government agency, Metro recently approved a resolution to fund efforts toward their strategy of enabling the region’s residents to “choose from a diversity of housing options.”
Titled the Regional Housing Choice Implementation Strategy, it will be looking for ways to meet Metro’s housing goals and improve options for housing in more income levels. The language in the resolution is still unspecific in many areas, but some of the recommendations made to Metro included affordable housing funding derived from construction taxes and/or a real estate transfer tax. More can be found at Metro’s housing site.
We are in the early stages of these initiatives, so there is bound to be debate for and against. However, I believe attention to affordable home ownership is critical to maintaining a strong, long-term housing market.
[tags] affordability, housing, prices, Portland, Metro, first-time, ownership, government [/tags]
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