The Oregonian reported that West Linn residents are confronting the consequences of a new state law, House Bill 4037, that prevents public testimony on the housing portion of a proposed 320-unit development.
Tigard Mayor Yi-Kang Hu Testimony: Earlier this year, I testified against provisions in HB 4037 that eliminate public hearings and appeal rights for certain housing developments. I support streamlining routine applications, but public input should remain for large developments that can significantly affect neighborhoods, infrastructure, and parks.
Oregon needs more housing, and Tigard has consistently been part of the solution. But addressing our housing shortage should not mean taking away the public’s voice.
As mayor, I will continue to support more housing while advocating for meaningful community input and the right of residents to participate in decisions that shape their neighborhoods.
ADMIN OPIN: Thank you Mayor Hu, for this testimony. The Neighborhoods in Oregon have completely lost their voice and been displaced by the developers that are playing the “We need to build more to fight homelessness and rent insecurity.” But these things are not cutting back on homelessness. And these things are not lowering rents significantly. In fact many subsidized housing units are actually a little HIGHER than what people can find on the free market. And in many cities that have had aggressive affordable housing programs (Portland for example), the subsidized housing that has been created remains 20% VACANT. It’s just not as good a deal as developers promised it would be. Something has to change so that we get MEANINGFUL change.
Bottomline is that neighbors built these neighborhoods and keeping them vibrant for all their residents is important to them. Cutting the neighborhood off from speaking up for its own future is just not right. It is the network of people that live together, go to school together, play youth sports together, even if it’s just football in the street, that makes people and their next generation families want to be able to stay and invest in the community. Silencing these voices and taking their input out of the public approval process for new developments is wrong. The developers do not have their families best interest at heart when they plan many of these sprawling “affordable” housing developments. Here’s why…
Oddly enough (satire), the solution that cuts developers out by giving people rent vouchers DIRECTLY, allowing them to make their own choices about what is affordable housing to them, is actually the most successful way to give people experiencing rent challenges a hand up. It also protects naturally occurring affordable housing… “Starter Homes” so these modest homes stay in the market as a family’s first entry into home ownership with affordable properties instead of being bought up and torn down to create massively tax subsidized complexes. It allows families to afford to stay in their old neighborhood and not get kicked into mazes of complexes that will forever link them to being renters They can build equity in these traditionally owned properties the way generations of families did in the past.
Giving rental vouchers directly to those who need it is actually TWICE as efficient than spending millions in tax credits and subsidized building grants to developers to build more high density units that destroy neighborhoods and destroy true starter homes because the older more affordable homes are torn down to make way for these monstrosities of complexes.
