Governor Kotek's Housing Package Passing Oregon Legislature

FILE – Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek speaks at the State Library of Oregon in Salem on Jan. 31, 2023. An internal investigation by the Oregon Liquor and Cannabis Commission, obtained by The Associated Press via a public records request Wednesday, Feb. 8, 2023, concluded that Executive Director Steve Marks and other five agency officials had diverted sought-after bourbons, including Pappy Van Winkle’s 23-year-old whiskey, for their personal use. Gov. Kotek on Wednesday asked the agency’s board of commissioners to remove Marks and the other implicated officials, alleging they “abused their position for personal gain.” (AP Photo/Claire Rush, File)

SALEM, Ore.– As lawmakers in Oregon’s House and Senate passed Governor Tina Kotek’s housing package this week, the governor took to Twitter, to post a simple explanation of her plan.

She said, “Decades of under building have left our state with a severe housing shortage. Here’s how it’s happening. So here we have a neighborhood. We have two homes for sale and we have more than two families who need a home, right? So two homes, people start bidding, prices go up. Now the wealthier families, they win those bids, they can find a place to live.

But then you have these other families who can’t afford to live there and don’t have a place to live. People who can’t afford the skyrocketing housing costs. are being pushed out of their communities. But we can fix it. So what if we built all kinds of homes? Single family homes? How about a duplex? How about some multi family apartments?

And maybe some townhomes? And then everybody has a place to call home..”

Lawmakers passed Senate Bills 1537 and 1530, which Kotek says will provide the support needed to ease the housing crisis and fix the shortage. Another bill with funding for emergency housing is scheduled for a vote today.

More about:

Affordable Housing

Governor Tina Kotek

houselessness

Oregon Senate Bill 1530

Oregon Senate Bill 1537