Podcasts about econorthwest

Industry advocates are at odds over a major slowdown in apartment construction in Portland, as the state sets a goal to add thousands of new housing units each year.A recent report from ECOnorthwest laid it bare: the number of housing units under construction in the final quarter of 2024 in Portland was the fewest since 2011.The report said 1,607 units were under construction at the end of 2024, compared to more than 7,700 in the second quarter of 2018 when housing production peaked in Portland.“We're kind of seeing the reaction to the policies that have been put in place,” said Andie Smith.

But will it be a home run? The Portland Diamond Project has so far struck out on its years-long efforts to bring Major League Baseball to Portland. But now they've got a new site on the South Waterfront, fresh energy from city leaders and a pitch to the Oregon Legislature, not to mention swoon-y renderings of a new stadium along the Willamette. Sports columnist Bill Oram and ECONorthwest economist Mike Wilkerson join Beat Check with The Oregonian to make sense of the numbers behind the proposal, the unknowns (who is behind that ownership group?) and what comes next. Wilkerson, a consultant to the Portland Diamond Project, says building a new stadium downtown could be a game-changer for Portland, the city that he recently and regretfully said was on the verge of a “doom loop” thanks to downward trends in population growth, the commercial real estate market and more. Stay tuned until the end of the episode to hear Oram and Wilkerson make it very clear where their own personal baseball allegiances land. Related coverage: Is a picture worth almost a billion dollars?OHSU responds to South Waterfront ballpark proposalEconomist warns of Portland ‘doom loop' Subscribe to Beat Check anywhere you listen to podcasts to get new episodes each week. You can support local journalism by becoming a subscriber to The Oregonian/OregonLive. Explore more of our podcasts and sign up to get newsletters for the latest news and top stories. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Local governments and nonprofits in the Portland area spent more than half a billion dollars fighting homelessness last year, a 70% increase from the year before, according to a new report. "The number itself was shocking," John Tapogna, a senior policy advisor at ECOnorthwest, which crunched the numbers, told KOIN 6 News. Multnomah, Washington and Clackamas counties, which make up Oregon's Portland metro area, spent $531 million on homelessness interventions in fiscal year 2023, according to ECOnorthwest's analysis. The huge increase was driven in part by nearly $90 million in federal pandemic relief funds, as well as a regional homeless tax approved by voters in 2020, the report shows. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/darien-dunstan3/message

It's no secret that Seattle is an expensive place to live. A big part of the problem is high rent costs. In the past few years, local housing activists have pushed the idea of a rent cap. One version is getting a hearing in Olympia today on its way to potentially becoming state law.Mike Wilkerson, an urban economist and thedirector of analytics at ECONorthwest, breaks down the different kinds of rent caps and where the proposed law would fit in.We can only make Seattle Now because listeners support us. You have the power! Make the show happen by making a gift to KUOW: https://www.kuow.org/donate/seattlenowAnd we want to hear from you! Follow us on Instagram at SeattleNowPod, or leave us feedback online: https://www.kuow.org/feedback

Last week, the Black Business Association of Oregon, in partnership with ECONorthwest, revealed a new Black Economic Prosperity dashboard. The dashboard provides data on the current state of Black Oregonians which reveals that one out of every five Black individuals in Oregon lives in poverty. Additionally, the median income for Black households is only two-thirds of that for white households and only 36% of Black households own a home. Lance Randall, executive director of the Black Business Association of Oregon, joins us to discuss the new data.

Full-text: Two weeks ago, Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler announced plans to give a 2.6% tax break to businesses threatening to leave Portland. This is a win for businesses and could encourage some to stay. But it may be too little, too late. Even after the worst of the pandemic, hundreds of businesses moved their headquarters out of Portland. And it's not just businesses; people are fleeing, too. In 2022, Portland had a net loss of 8,000 people. Mayor Wheeler finally learned one basic principle: High taxes discourage economic activity. According to a study from ECONorthwest, Portland has the second highest marginal tax rate in the U.S. Only New York City is higher. Another study by Ernst & Young shows that Portland business taxes have increased by 32% since 2019. Removing a 2.6% business tax is a good start, but Portland is far from being “business friendly.” In order for Portland (and more generally, Oregon) to attract more businesses, a substantial decrease in personal and business taxes is necessary. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/coffeewithcascade/message

Data compiled by consulting firm EcoNorthwest shows that thousands of people are leaving Multnomah County, and taking hundreds of millions of dollars with them.

Data compiled by consulting firm EcoNorthwest shows that thousands of people are leaving Multnomah County, and taking hundreds of millions of dollars with them.

How to think about Oregon's housing and homelessness crisis with John Tapogna John Tapogna is a well-respected figure in the Oregon policy scene. He served as president of ECONorthwest, a prominent economic consulting firm, from 2009-2021. He now serves as a Senior Policy Advisor. Previously, John worked for U.S. Congressional Budget Office and served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Chile. This episode is about a recent paper that ECONorthwest published called “Postcard from the Future: What Portland can learn from the implementation of Los Angeles's Measure H?” We hope this provides a framework for thinking about housing and homelessness policy issues that the state must grapple with. In the first half, we talk about which specific interventions are most effective (and which aren't)—and in the second half, we talk about the six specific recommendations for policymakers to avoid the missteps from LA's measure.

Ninety-five percent of employers in Bend and Central Oregon say that the high cost of housing has had either a high or moderate impact on their ability to hire workers. That's according to a report released this month from the Bend Chamber of Commerce. The chamber hired consulting firm ECONorthwest to produce the report, which is based on surveys with over 200 regional employers working in construction, hospitality, healthcare and high tech. Two-thirds of the employers surveyed also said their revenues decreased as a result of hiring difficulties. Meanwhile, the median price of homes sold in Bend increased 75 percent from 2019 to the second quarter of 2022, while the pace of new construction has failed to keep up with demand. Bend Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Katy Brooks and City Councilor Megan Perkins join us to talk about the report and what's being done to alleviate the affordable housing crisis in Bend.

In an era when people can work from anywhere, few choose downtown Portland.That's clear from a July study by ECONorthwest, not yet finalized, which shows that on any given day, there are 55% fewer workers downtown than there were before the pandemic. In the same report, consultants estimated it would take until 2034 for office vacancy in downtown Portland to drop below 10%—the ideal range.LIKE & SUBSCRIBE for new videos everyday. https://bit.ly/3KBUDSK

Full Text: According to a revised report from economic consulting firm ECONorthwest, Portland lost 14% of its single family rental houses between 2017 and 2020. That's a decline of more than 1,300 rental homes per year. This steep drop shouldn't come as a surprise given the policies enacted by the Portland City Council in recent years, which have made it increasingly difficult for landlords to operate their rentals. In early 2017, Portland passed an ordinance requiring landlords to pay up to $4,500 in a tenant's relocation costs if the landlord decides not to renew a lease or raises rent more than 10%. Two years later, the City Council limited a landlord's ability to deny rental applicants based on their criminal record, income level, and credit history. Some are likely to blame the drop in single family rental homes on a hot housing market. However, the City of Portland lost rental homes at twice the rate of the rest of the region, indicating that these policies have played a role in driving the shortage. While these regulations were meant to help tenants, they have largely hurt them by making it even harder to find a place to live amid a limited supply of rental housing. The City Council should act on this new data and repeal these harmful policies before more damage is done. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/coffeewithcascade/message

Rent prices in the city have continued to rise and according to a recent study, Portland has seen the highest percentage increase in rent prices among all U.S. metro areas.The study, conducted by Redfin, said rent prices in Portland have skyrocketed by 39% from the previous year — more than double the national average increase of 15% year over year.Bob Whelan, a senior economist with EcoNorthwest, said there's not enough apartments to fill the demand that's out there, so rents are starting to go up fast.LIKE & SUBSCRIBE for new videos everyday. https://bit.ly/3fs6dBUSupport the show (https://www.patreon.com/seattlerealestatepodcast)

CEO of the Portland Business Alliance Andrew Hoan joined John Tapogna of ECONorthwest and Michelle Neiss from DHM Research as guests on this week's episode of "Straight Talk" to discuss the 2022 State of the Economy report.

CEO of the Portland Business Alliance Andrew Hoan joined John Tapogna of ECONorthwest and Michelle Neiss from DHM Research as guests on this week's episode of "Straight Talk" to discuss the 2022 State of the Economy report.

A Cascadia Subduction Zone earthquake could potentially cause the biggest fuel spill in U.S. history right in the middle of Portland, according to a recent report. The report from ECONorthwest evaluates the potential damage a magnitude 8 or 9 earthquake could cause along a six-mile stretch of Portland's industrial Northwest known as the Critical Energy Infrastructure Hub. Oregon state Sen. Michael Dembrow, D-Portland, wants to change the way fuel tanks there are regulated in an effort to strengthen them and, hopefully, prevent a giant spill. He joins us to talk about how his proposed legislation would work.

In this episode of the Housing Changemaker Series, Laura Foote is joined by Roderick Hall and Madeline Baron who are both Project Managers at ECONorthwest. They discuss Up For Growth research and policy, challenges urban planners face, and the importance of research and data analysis in housing. Roderick Hall is a project manager at ECONorthwest with a background in research and data analytics, housing finance, community organizing, and program design and evaluation. Rod joined ECONorthwest in 2021 and oversees a range of projects that include housing policy and planning, market studies and development feasibility, displacement risk analysis and anti-displacement strategy, and structural inequities Madeline specializes in affordable housing, finance, research, and policy analysis. At ECONorthwest, she evaluates policy solutions across the entire spectrum of the housing market – from tax measures to fund permanent supportive housing and alleviate homelessness to community development efforts at mitigating displacement, equitable housing development surrounding major infrastructure projects, and feasibility analysis of missing middle and market-rate housing development. Her work encompasses statistical analysis, strategic planning, real estate development, finance and funding, and scenario planning. This special series on Infill is in partnership with Up For Growth, who is hosting a conference featuring amazing pro-housing voices from all over the country. We had the great opportunity to sit down with several of the speakers and give you a preview of what will be discussed in more detail during the online conference. Tickets are free, grab yours here! https://go.upforgrowth.org/UFG2021YIMBY Links:Hear more about ECONorthwest: https://econw.com/about Follow Roderick on Twitter: https://twitter.com/RoderickDHall1 Follow ECONorthwest on Twitter: https://twitter.com/ECONorthwest Learn more about YIMBY Action: https://yimbyaction.org/

The city of Portland and Multnomah county commissioned a study to learn what damage a Cascadia Subduction Zone earthquake would do to the Critical Energy Infrastructure Hub, a six mile stretch of fossil fuel storage along the Willamette river. Laura Marshall of ECONorthwest, which coproduced the report, says the release of fuel that would result from the subduction zone earthquake would be a massive environmental disaster. Marshall joins us, along with Multnomah County Commissioner Sharon Meieran, to give us more details about the potential damages and what might be done to mitigate them.

Kol: Here we are! Ezra, what's up, buddy? All right. Ezra: Cool. How are you? Kol: Good man. Thanks for coming on [00:02:00] today to be our guest on the ADU hour. So Ezra, we've been just jumping right into stuff pretty quickly, but let me just like, first of all, let me have you introduce yourself a little bit. I just, you know, briefly said you're with the Portland Home Builders Association. Tell us, give us a, like a, a one minute intro of who you are and how you came to be in the position that you're in. Ezra: Yeah, sure. And thanks for having me today. Really appreciate it. And so nice to see folks joining from all over the country and it looks like internationally too.Very cool. So I am a land use attorney by training. I practiced in Southern California, primarily in the Los Angeles region. My wife and I fell in love with beautiful Portland Oregon, as so many folks have, and we recently moved up here about a year and a half ago. And since that time I've been leading the efforts advocacy, lobbying, and education here at the home builders association of metropolitan Portland.We're a local HBA. There are chapters across the country and we engage with policymakers and decision-makers at the local and regional level [00:03:00] to help craft policies that are pro-housing, as we call them- kind of focused on allowing more housing, different types of housing, lower priced housing, housing that's accessible to all folks and you and I actually met because in my previous life, I was a big fan of yours down in Southern California.I actually have my copy of Backdoor Revolution right here. Highly recommend that everyone get one or get two. They make wonderful Christmas gifts and, and great gifts even in springtime. You'll notice that I have my sign here tab, so I will be looking for a signature next time I get to see you in person. But your book was actually an inspiration for a number of us who were working on ADU policies in the City of Los Angeles and in California, more broadly back in 20 15, 16 and 17, I, I saw you speak before I believe a Senate committee in California working [00:04:00] with one of our senators down there who was very interested in allowing for more ADUs. And we actually took a lot of your ideas and copied and pasted them into conversations that were being had in Los Angeles at the time. It was a pretty pitched battle in LA, as I'm sure practitioners who are joining us today from that area can attest to, and it actually came to a head at a point in time when the state kind of shrug their shoulders, said enough is enough and took away a local control for jurisdictions like Los Angeles that had really been recalcitrant in implementing a series of regulations that legalized ADUs. I think as many folks recognize that it's been a fantastic smashing success down there and throughout Southern California in all of California generally. And a big part of that is thanks to you and the work you've done advocating for and educating folks about accessory dwelling units.Kol: Well, thanks for the I was more of a flattery than itself introduction, but I really appreciate it Ezra, [00:05:00] and yeah, I mean, that was kind of the goal of the book was to kind of lay out some statistically based evidence to back up some of the policy ideas that has been bantered around for a while and were just hard to kind of get enacted into local ordinances and then California in 2017, put forward this pretty aggressive legislation and then doubled down in 2018 or maybe I'm getting those wrong years wrong.But and that kind of set the pathway in terms of showing that state legislative approaches are perhaps not only a good idea, but maybe even a best practice as far as getting these types of updates done. The way I think about it now is, I mean, and I'm having firsthand experience with this in Oregon.Now I'm on rulemaking for HB 2001, but HB 2001, which we've talked about in a previous show. And we'll talk about more today and the California legislation. I would say [00:06:00] that it's not a unfair statement to say it was actually less work to pass the statewide ordinances than to pass the same kinds of ordinances at the local level. What do you think about that? Ezra: Yeah, I think you're hitting the nail right on the head there, Kol. You know, it's interesting to see States like Oregon and California borrow practices from States in the South and Midwest where this has been standard practice for quite some time. The devolution of complete authority to local jurisdictions to manage land use is not something that's practiced nationwide. It's something that's unique to a lot of high priced urban markets where there's been an expectation of extensive community engagement and feedback for even the smallest projects, going back to the 1960s and seventies as a way to push back against some of the darker times of urban renewal.But in other parts of the country statewide regulations around housing are [00:07:00] pretty common practices. I often speak with my counterparts in Texas or Indiana who work on pieces of legislation that are total no-brainers but would be extremely difficult to get implemented at the local level. And, and they deal with it all at the state level.Just an example, Texas recently prohibited jurisdictions from putting in place material restrictions on houses that would kind of otherwise limit what sort of material builders could use in homes. Obviously they have building code standards there and they ensure material that they use is safe.But what we've seen a number of jurisdictions do up and down the West coast has kind of arbitrarily set standards and what can be used on houses. As a way to drive up the cost of housing kind of control the type of housing that can get built. And the cumulative effect of these regulations year over year are higher housing costs.So I think dealing with things at the statewide level makes a ton of sense. Although it's great to have community participation for many [00:08:00] things, when it comes to small scale housing, oftentimes we need to take a deep breath, step back, and really let policymakers shape a series of regulations that are going to open the door for housing. Because quite frankly, Kol, we've been failing doing that at the local level.There was a great report that came out in 2018 from Smart Growth America and ecoNorthwest here in Portland that highlighted the fact that since the great recession we've under built in Oregon, 155,000 units of housing as a ratio of household formation. I know for folks in California, that sounds like a drop in the bucket, but that's really impactful here in Oregon.And the same report showed that there's about a 6% increase in overall housing costs associated just with that scarcity. And so when we talk about tools to help craft housing that is more accessible to more Oregonians and more, more people, generally, we need to take [00:09:00] into account the fact that we have not been building enough housing and a big reason for the fact we haven't been building that housing is because local governments put impediments in place to inhibit folks from building.Kol: So let's go back to HBA for a second to tell us a little bit about the organizational structure of HBA. You are in a local chapter. How are you connected to a national organization? Is there a national organization in DC and how do all those chapters play out nationally? Ezra: Yeah, sure. So the home builders association of metropolitan Portland, we're a member-driven organization. Our membership is primarily builders, developers, remodelers who build small scale single family and multifamily housing. Our folks generally don't work with steel. That's kind of the rule of thumb. So anything over four stories, our folks aren't building anything under that, they probably are. As well as all the trade professionals and suppliers , the legal folks, the engineers, everybody that's kind of in that universe of smaller scale [00:10:00] residential developments.Like you mentioned, we are a a chapter organization. So we work in partnership with the Oregon home builders association. They work down in Salem and we coordinate our efforts to advance kind of policy at the local regional and state level. And we're also members of the national association of home builders, which has a big honkin building in DC.You know, they're working on things like home buyer, tax credits ensuring that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are, are, are up and running effectively. But we, we don't, you know, we, we don't work with them on policy at the local level just because each jurisdiction is different. And we need to be crafting policies that are right for Portland and more broadly, right for Oregon. Kol: So tell us about the national structure of HBA in terms of the DC representation, national association of home builders. What's that? What do they do and how are you guys tied into them?Ezra: Yeah. So all of the local chapters are kind of members [00:11:00] of the broader organization, the national association of home builders, and they they do education, advocacy and lobbying at the at the federal level. So they work closely with HUD and secretary Carson. They work with congressional leaders.They've been actively engaged in conversations around the COVID-19 relief efforts and ensuring there's a appropriate number of dollars being dedicated to the triple P program to help our small businesses and ensure that they can remain viable during these difficult economic times. So they're doing grant work out of DC and, and we try to do good work here locally.Kol: So I wanted to dive into HBA's role with regard to middle housing legislation. So are we just really lucky to have you and your colleagues here in Portland who are doing middle housing type of advocacy and education in local jurisdictions around the Portland Metro area, [00:12:00] or is that a national policy that, that the national association of home builders is doing you know, countrywide?Ezra: Yeah. So, as I mentioned before we set we set policy, our organizational policy at the local level. It's just too difficult to coordinate with the hundreds of chapters that exist around the country. And quite frankly, I don't know what's right for Indiana. I don't know what's right for North Carolina and I certainly don't know what the right fit is for, for, for Boston.But what we do know is that here locally, middle housing is a critical piece of the overall housing picture. And we have members that build it. They build it with great success. And we have seen middle housing kind of proliferate throughout. The Portland Metro region and have really positive impacts region wide.We're starting to see great product getting built in communities like Tigard and Milwaukee, where they've really been at the forefront of progressive conversations around middle housing. We've seen the incredible [00:13:00] steps that the city of Portland has taken to advance conversations with the residential infill project, although they haven't passed it yet, there's been a ton of great conversation.And we've been part of many of those many of those conversations for the past five years. So, you know, here locally, we really recognize that middle housing and by middle housing, you know, we think expansively. So it's everything from accessory dwelling units, townhomes, multiple units on a lot up to, up to four in whatever kind of form that they take.But we found that when you liberalize the types of housing that can get built, not only do you kind of expand the marketplace of folks that can participate in building new housing, which is a real positive because you let homeowners kind of actively engage in that market and bring good housing to the marketplace for folks to to rent or to buy. But you also produce myriad types of housing. And I think that's the piece that's been the most exciting quite frankly Kol, because for so long, like, like the viewers know, and [00:14:00] like, you know you know, planners have relied on kind of monochromatic maps to say the light yellow goes here and the red goes here and the blue goes there and never shall they ever meets.And this is how we show, advance our society. And for anybody that's traveled in Latin America or Europe or or, or many parts of the globe, they'll say that that's not how housing has to be. And I think over the years. And, and middle housing has really been a big piece of this. It's helped us chip away at those kind of outdated Euclidean models of zoning, and really allowed us to think more creatively about the types of housing that folks need.I live in a multi-generational household, like many Portlanders do. We were thankful enough to have my mother come live with us right before the pandemic. And, you know, had we lived in a community let's say with restrictive covenants that had kind of prohibited that type of intergenerational, it would have been really hard on our family [00:15:00] and middle housing plays a role in giving people the type of flexibility that they need to get the type of housing that's most appropriate for Kol: So you came to Portland by way of LA, as you mentioned, and LA has become a huge hotbed of ADU activity, I would say it's yeah, it's fair to say it's objectively the best well, the biggest market in the country for ADUs right now, 5,000 or so permits issued last year alone in 2019. So it's, it's been pretty phenomenal. Can you help explain why LA has since seen such a groundswell of ADU permits being issued and, and and say like we already, like, we've already kind of covered that there is some legislative changes at the state level, but why LA, why aren't we seeing tens of thousands being built in say San Jose instead of LA?Ezra: Yeah, I know that's, that's a great question Kol. So Los Angeles, like any practitioners from there we'll know, or anybody that's lived down there and we'll know the entire Southern California region, but LA specifically is just starved for housing.You know, it, it was a open secret [00:16:00] before the city took the appropriate steps to liberalize accessory dwelling units that there were likely tens of thousands of unpermitted units existing in the city. A couple of estimates that I've seen put that number upwards of 50,000 throughout the entire city.And many of these were built to appropriate code standards. They just didn't have the appropriate paperwork and land use authorization to allow them to be quote- unquote legal. Many of them, unfortunately, weren't built to appropriate code, but that was due in large part to the fact that government had made it so onerous to build an accessory dwelling unit that any rational person would just shrug their shoulders and ignore the system altogether. Before LA took the steps that it did, again, driven in large part by the great great work of the California legislature, folks were asked to go through a year- long entitlement process that was entirely discretional. The costs generally were 40 to a hundred thousand dollars in permits, [00:17:00] legal fees, and land use planner fees.And all it took was one disgruntled neighbor to show up and yell at a hearing officer about lack of parking or neighborhood character or disruption to the community or any sort of those kind of standard tropes that we hear from folks. And, and their application would be denied. Before I was a land use attorney, I had the pleasure of working for Councilman Mike Bond and in the city of Los Angeles.For those of you that are familiar with LA, each council member represents a geographic area, and they're essentially the mayor of their geographic area for the purpose of discretionary land use entitlements. And I talked to literally dozens of, of heartbroken and frustrated homeowners who are attempting to go through the process of building an ADU for a loved one or for for some additional rental income.And it had just been dragged through the most arduous process, not only from the city side of things through the regulatory environment, but then from [00:18:00] just terrible interactions with their neighbors that, that, that hurt the community that kind of caused more ill will between neighbors and at the end of the day, kind of resulted in in no benefit to anyone.So when LA took the steps to kind of do away with that regulatory framework, they really opened the floodgates. And there was such a voracious appetite that the citizens of Los Angeles have for housing that we've seen these incredible numbers, like you mentioned 5,000, that's fantastic.I hope next year it's 10,000. Let's build 15,000, let's build a hundred thousand ADUs. If we take those sorts of real steps than California, and hopefully Oregon too, we'll be able to address the incredible housing shortfall that we have. Kol: So since you've come to the HBA, Portland HBA, you've taken a really active role in representing the Portland home builders, associations, interests, and local legislative issues. In the jurisdiction [00:19:00] surrounding Portland, there's roughly 28 jurisdictions in the Portland Metro area. And I, I'm not sure how many. Jurisdictions you represent, but, but you've been, you've taken an active role in, in participating in these meetings, as cities are going through code updates. Can you tell us a little bit about that?Ezra: Yeah, absolutely. And, and, and listen, Kol. I couldn't be doing it without you. Anytime a jurisdiction looks at amending their middle housing regulations or ADU regulations. I come a calling. You've probably gotten emails from me at 11 o'clock at night, asking you to dig into something and see if there are any poison pills in there or if there are any concerns that you have. Like I mentioned before, our members build accessory dwelling units throughout the greater Portland region. And therefore it's, it's my responsibility to ensure that our advocacy team is beating down the doors of elected leaders and citizens serving on planning commissions to to, to push them, to advance progressive ADU regulations.You know, at the end of the day, it is so [00:20:00] difficult for many potential ADU developers to actively engage in advocacy. These are homeowners, as you know, that have busy lives. That may be thinking in the back of their mind about potentially building one, they have a single, or maybe even multiple conversations with the city about what the process will be.But oftentimes when they find that it's going to be expensive time-consuming and difficult, they shrug their shoulders and go on their ways. And so those folks are, are really tough to kind of rally and, and get to these public meetings even to write letters to advocate because they might not know that they're an ADU developer yet because they've only thought about it.So the role that we play along with you and with many other great community activists in the Portland Metro region is making sure that we go to these meetings, that we submit testimony into the record, that we demonstrate the value and the benefit of accessory dwelling units. So that jurisdictions will adopt regulations that are more favorable to building ADUs in whatever [00:21:00] form they might be.Kol: So things are a little bit more advanced here with regard to the baseline context of the ADU conversation because of HB 2001. But for those who are not in Oregon or California, who are on this call, I want to just kind of pick your brain a little bit about the role that you specifically in the HBA with wearing your HBA hat has played . So what are some common themes that you've observed amongst planning, staff and elected officials who are grappling with how to loosen ADU regulations. And what, what advice would you offer to other HBA chapters or for members who are in other jurisdictions who want to talk to their HBA reps like you?Ezra: Yeah, absolutely. And I would just say the biggest thing that we should be doing and that we should think about is is how we're going to be bold. I think it's, I think it's that simple Kol we're so used to operating in a paradigm where it's kind of the, the, the NIMBY, not in my backyard, folks coming out who expect to [00:22:00] play an oversized role in conversations around new housing.And I think a number of planners out there have been through these battles time and time again, to the point where they're really war weary, where they feel like any time they take you know, a positive, progressive step forward and maybe ADUs, they're going to get beaten back. Their, their elected leaders are going to get nasty letters. And then they're going to have a really tough time defending their positions. And our message to you is, is be bold. Take that step. Just like Portland and just like Oregon. I know that many of the regions that folks on this video come from are dealing with intractable housing crises.And we're not going to solve those crises. You know, using businesses as usual techniques, we need to be able to take steps forward that take away poison pills and make it easy and effective to build accessory dwelling units. When we do that, we will show our communities that ADUs aren't something to be feared, but are [00:23:00] rather something that fit beautifully and seamlessly into existing community frameworks and have a lot of positive knock on effects.If we build enough ADUs, we'll see rents reduce, you know, a great report that came out here in Oregon and Kol, I'm sure you can remind me of the specifics, but I think it found that upwards of 12% of ADUs are actually rented for free to family members. That's incredible. There's no other type of affordable housing. And I, and I, I mean that affordable housing zero, it doesn't get any more affordable than zero. That the marketplace can build without significant government subsidy. And the ADU is something that by and large will help people support family members who might need access to housing at reduced costs.Kol: Yeah. Yeah, you're totally right. The three studies that I've looked at on this issue related to ADUs and affordable housing are that in all three cases, [00:24:00] roughly 18 to 20% of ADUs are rented out vastly less than market rates. And those are probably, you know, people like me who owned an ADU and rented out to a friend or whatever.And then roughly eight to 10%, five to 10%, or probably I think 8% is the aggregate figure rent at, at $0 per month to probably, you know, granny, grandpa, whatever, that kind of situation or brother who, you know, doesn't have a job or whatever it is. So whether or not it's a required, it seems as though ADUs are actually outperforming regulated, affordable housing, Ezra: Wow.Kol: And so so what, what role do you think builders specifically can play in terms of advocacy for liberalizing ADU regulations and missing middle housing regulations in general? Ezra: Yeah. That's a great question. And Kol, you know, it's my job to be out there talking to folks since my job there to be out there advocating, but, but I'll tell you this it is so much more impactful for an elected leader to hear from somebody that is actually [00:25:00] engaged in the business that they do.It's great to have lobbyists again, as I mentioned before, it's really tough for a lot of small developers and builders to spend time to interact with elected leaders and policymakers. But when you can take the time to write a letter or provide public testimony it goes miles further. And so I would say to folks, you know, think about advocacy and think about lobbying as something that you would do to support your own business.You'd certainly take the time to hire an accountant to make sure your books are right. You'd certainly take the time most likely to to work with a professional on doing some advertising. Taking the time and the, and the resources associated with that to do a little bit of advocacy will go miles.So highly recommend for people to share their own stories. You know, here in Oregon like many parts of the country, we have a part-time legislature. These are folks that have jobs like you and I, that aren't elected. And, and sit in some sort of [00:26:00] ivory tower, just thinking about policy day in and day out.These are folks that live in the community and when they can hear their neighbors and their neighbors, friends share their stories about how they're building accessory, dwelling units, and, and housing more generally, they're going to be much more receptive to advancing policies that help you and then help all Oregonians and everybody by ensuring there's enough housing. Kol: What are some differences that you've observed between legislative and local regulatory environmental in the regulatory environment in LA Angeles versus Portland markets for residential construction? I hope that this isn't just a question that serves people who live in Portland or people who live in LA.But I think understanding from your vantage, how these two different jurisdictions operate legislatively and regulatory regulatory wise will help give some meaningful context for people who are doing it advocacy and understanding the culture of different building environments. Ezra: Yeah, absolutely and I'm gonna, I'm going to take a step out if that's okay. And kind of [00:27:00] compare Oregon and California generally. And this is to all of you, Californians Oregon took a tremendous step with its ADU regulations here in Oregon. There's no prohibition for putting condo maps on a lot. That includes an ADU. In California, that's explicitly prohibited. It's been in the law since day one. It's been carried over as this barrier strict of language that really has no solid basis in rationale. And so here in Oregon, we don't have that and the result has been something organic and really darn cool. And something that I'm, that I'm really thrilled about.And that's essentially the condoization of either attached or detached ADUs. So small scale housing that then can get put on the marketplace and sold at a point at a price point that is highly attainable to folks. So here in the city of Portland, I'll just give you an anecdotal example. We have a program, the government will subsidize you selling a [00:28:00] home to a family that makes less than the area, medium income as long as you sell it at a prescribed price point. And currently that price point is $405,000. They basically found that for a two income household of folks making less than the area, medium income, they can spend 30% of their income and afford a $405,000 mortgage. For the ADUs that are being condoised and sold -detached products, so they look exactly the same as a single family home. They just tend to be a little bit smaller, those ADUs are selling for a little over $310,000. So a hundred thousand dollars less than the prescribed price point for affordable housing is what you can buy. One of these ADUs for here in Portland, that's mindblowing, and that's something that should be available all over the country.California is missing out on a fantastic opportunity to allow [00:29:00] people to purchase ADUs as essentially starter homes and start building the equity and get the access to capital and tap into the tax code and all those benefits that are available for home ownership could be available to folks that purchase ADUs.And so I highly encourage you to speak with your legislators about fixing that last poison pill in the ADU regulations that exist in California. Come join us. Let's do things the Oregon way and let's make ADUs available for sale. Kol: So on the, on the flip side, what are some things that Oregon could learn from California? What are some lessons we should borrow ? Ezra: Geez, Kol, that one's tough. I, I don't wanna, I don't want to hate on my mind old state, but you know, honestly, California is just decades behind where we are hear in Oregon. The housing crisis there that's gripping California is so bad that they've seen a year after year lower and middle income [00:30:00] residents flee the state, I think California, you know, is likely to lose a congressional seat this year for the first time in forever. Because in large part, they've done such a terrible job. With allowing for the construction of new housing and the primary reason for this, there are a lot of factors. And I think the LA times story that came out several weeks ago, highlighting the, I think it was $1.1 million affordable units that were built down in Southern California.There, there, there are myriad reasons why building a so tough in California in any practitioner down there can attest to it. But the primary difference between California and Oregon is. Here, we're actually rational about our environmental regulations. We don't have secrets. What we've done in Oregon is essentially bake in the appropriate environmental regulations into our zoning codes by and large.So it's easy. A practitioner can kind of pick up a zoning map. They can understand where they can and can't build. They can [00:31:00] understand what mitigation measures need to be taken in order to help preserve and enhance the environments. And they can go and get their approvals and start building without having this, this sword of CEQA hanging over their heads.In California, you might go through that process. You might have dotted all of your T's and excuse me, dotted all of your I's and crossed all of your T's and then open yourself up to years and years of litigation based on some spurious argument that has zero rationale and is totally unrelated to your project in any way.I mentioned, I previously practiced in Los Angeles. There are a number of firms down there primarily based in San Bernardino County. That would file blanket appeals on any projects built in Los Angeles, solely as a mechanism to blackmail folks into giving them cash handouts. It's it's called a greenmail practice in Venice, California, wonderful community just South of, of Santa Monica, there were several residents, [00:32:00] well-known there, who would appeal every single project that went through solely as a mechanism to extort tens of thousands of dollars from the project applicants. Okay, that there's, there is no rational basis for doing any of that. CEQA does not have a demonstrable impact on enhancing the environment.I would welcome anybody to come here. Check out, see what Oregon is doing. See how well we preserve and enhance the environment there and put that up against CEQA or any other sorts of regulations like that, that leave open-ended litigation as a part of the land use process and cost, you know, hundreds of thousands of dollars for even smaller scale projects.I'll give you one example, Kol, just to highlight how egregious this is my bread and butter. When I was a practicing attorney was medium-sized apartment buildings. Medium-sized for Los Angeles. I'm thinking a hundred to 200 units. Nothing. No, high-rises nothing insane like that. The attorney's fees on those [00:33:00] projects were unconscionable.And, and not because we charge high fees, we were extremely low priced compared to any of the competition. But because of this, this, this ever existing threat of litigation, applicants were forced to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars to produce environmental reports that set essentially nothing. At the end of the day, our clients were building apartments buildings in places like Hollywood and downtown Los Angeles, where they were literally next to other apartment buildings.And yet for some absurd rationale, they were forced to spend close to half a million dollars. Having their attorneys review a document that said, 'We're building an apartment building next to other apartment buildings'. So I I'm, I'm gonna T I'm going to go out. I'm going to have a hot take your call. I'm going to say we shouldn't borrow things from California, California should be borrowing from Oregon, should be borrowing from States that are, that are taking a more rational approach to how to build housing.And if they do that, there'll be able to house some of the [00:34:00] millions of Californians that are having a very difficult time, even finding a home. Kol: Thanks. Thanks for that, that screed.. That was excellent. I do have one really specific last question before we transition to Q and a, which is on a couple of days ago, Eli Spievak was on, and I was asking him about what insights he had regarding condoization defect legislation. And I don't know what you're able to share about that, if anything, but w where did, where does that legislative matter stand right now within Oregon? Ezra: Yeah, that's a great question, Kol. You know, unfortunately the condo defect rules we have in place here are not industry standard. They're not best practices.They produce serious litigation threats, and they're the reasons that here in Oregon, condos are generally the last product to enter the marketplace during a boom and the first to exit during a bust. We unsuccessfully, tried to pass a piece of legislation in 2018 that would have brought Oregon and [00:35:00] line with some of our surrounding States. Would have kind of made the liability much more rational, would have allowed builders to cure defects that would have existed. And, and quite frankly, we were beaten by the trial attorneys. They are formidable down in the legislature. Thankfully we have some real housing champions, including speaker Kotek who brought forward HB 2001 in 2003 that I know you've talked about.And so she has been kind of very open, a very open door with us. We have been having a series of round table discussions with stakeholders, including the trial attorneys. I don't have any details at this time. We're hopeful that we'll be able to bring forward a reform package in the 2020 legislative session that will have broad based support across the political spectrum.Because just, just as we're starting to see an uptick in middle housing, we want to make sure that, that middle housing is available in both rental and for sale form and condo defect, litigation reform is an integral piece in helping us [00:36:00] achieve that. Kol: Thanks, Ezra. TransitionKelcy: Okay. So the first one I'm going to go with is Shanna Doherty's question. And this one's kind of up at the top here. How has LA and other cities dealing with infrastructure impacts as a result of new density from ADUs? Is this a true issue or more of a political issue? For example, I was told that the sewer and water capacity can not meet higher density density manifested from duplexes, triplexes, ADUs on a single family lot.Ezra: Yeah, I mean, I'm going, gonna, I'm going to just stop here. This is by and large red herring. You know, to, to, to pretend as if the addition of housing is somehow going to overwhelm Los Angeles or any jurisdiction for that manner is just absolutely false.And we know it's demonstrably false for two reasons. One, when you do large scale projects or even medium-sized projects in California, you have to engage in environmental analysis. And part of that analysis is determining kind of what the existing [00:37:00] capacities are. Even for smaller scale projects, you need to get a will serve letters from the appropriate service provider to ensure that they have the capacity.And importantly, new homes are responsible for paying the fees to those providers, to ensure that they're able to upgrade their capacity in a way that will accommodate housing growth over time. So not only do we do the analysis on a case by case basis and when we have updated community plans, do it at a a neighborhood or regional basis.But new housing pays its way. And the same goes for here in Oregon. People pay development, impact fees. We call them system development charges, but they're, they're the same thing as development impact fees. And those fees go to enhance infrastructure in a way that can accommodate your growth. I would also note that we're seeing things shift dramatically when it comes to transportation modes.So not only do we see more and more folks working from home, and this was occurring long before COVID-19 kind of came [00:38:00] onto the scene. But we're seeing working from home, being a huge part of the transportation ride share. But we're also seeing more and more folks use alternative forms of transportation whether that's ride sharing whether that is electric scooters here in Portland bike infrastructure is getting built out in a way that makes it much more seamless to get around via bicycle.These forums are changing all the time and they allow for us to have different expectations of what's what our infrastructure is going to provide for. I'll also note that in Los Angeles, in particular it folks oftentimes like to pretend that the impacts come from the housing. The impacts come from the people who live in the house, right?So traffic is bad in LA because there are lots of people living there and driving their cars. The parks are full because there's lots of people playing in them. Not because housing was built and importantly, in Los Angeles, in many jurisdictions along the West [00:39:00] coast, people come regardless of whether or not the housing was available. Kol in the 1990s, I had the pleasure of visiting Russia after the end of the cold war and in Russia they prohibit low-income residents or they did at the time from coming from the villages and living in Moscow. They didn't want a bunch of four people coming into the city and they would check people at train stations.And if they didn't like what they saw on your ID they tell you to get back on the train. We don't do that here in America. And I'm really thankful for that. And what that means is the fact that folks are going to come to cities, whether or not the housing is available for them. And they'll find a way, and whether that's couch surfing or sleeping in their cars or doubling up in ways that are not optimal from a habitation standpoint, the people will be here.The best thing that we can do is build the housing to accommodate those folks. And if we do that, we'll actually be able to collect the dollars necessary to build out and enhance the infrastructure that will make it better for everyone [00:40:00] doing the opposite is absolutely the wrong approach. Kelcy: Thank you. This one I thought was interesting, cause I haven't heard of this before.Maybe you or Kol can answer this. A city that created a guide for bringing existing outlaw or unpermitted ADUs into compliance. Is that, are you either of you familiar with anything like that? Kol: I am. I'll speak to that. So this is a really kind of a long topic and a really interesting topic. And I can't go into all, all of my thoughts on it right now, but what I will say is there, there has been some limited degree of success in, I think Marin County in California for an amnesty program.But I think more importantly if we look at the, the, the number of legalizations of properties in of ADUs in California . If we look at the number of properties in Los Angeles that have [00:41:00] become legal permitted ADUs in the last couple of years, What we see is that approach of just simply having pretty good ADU regulations at large has really been what's fostered a lot of legalizations, it's not an amnesty program per se.So so I think the lesson that, that I would like to kind of put out there is not that it's, I don't personally, I'm not of the belief that an amnesty program is necessarily, it's not a bad idea, but I think it involves a lot of staff time to come up with the mechanisms to do that. And I think the lesson should be that rather than focusing on amnesty of preexisting unpermitted structures, that would have a hell of a time meeting, structural code, planning and zoning code and habitable current habitable building code.It's better to just. Make it easier overall to build permitted ADUs and that will enable more people to, you know, legalize, you know, legalize our [00:42:00] ADU if it can do so. It's not, again, that it's a bad idea to do amnesty, but it involves a lot of staff effort. And and I think the reward that you get is ultimately a fairly nominal number of units becoming legal.And when they become legal, all it means from my vantage as an ADU advocate is you've made them put some more money into bringing up this structure to meet current building code in some way, shape or form, which just takes a really affordable albeit unpermitted unit and putting it into a slightly more expensive permitted unit.So it actually hasn't increased the housing stock at all. In fact, you've eliminated some really affordable housing stock now. A city, can't say that a city can't say, well, you should just continue to live in an unpermitted ADU. But I just question whether it's a fundamentally flawed approach to be focusing on amnesty when, when there's so much [00:43:00] opportunity for new ads to be brought to the fold by simply reducing the threshold of of making permitted ADUs at large.Kelcy: Thank you.Kol: Yeah. Yeah. I'd say two more, Kelsey. Okay, great. Kelcy: There's a couple that are dealing that are curious about the construction defect laws. So Ezra have you been involved in lobbying for the construction defect laws? And are you familiar with those and can you address construction defects? Ezra: Yeah. And I think that we touched on this a little bit before. But, but thanks for the question again. Yes again construction defects specifically related to, to condoization, but more broadly is something that the HBA is working on at the state level. We hope to have. As I mentioned before, a new bill brought forward in 2020 that is going to be able to pass muster.The big [00:44:00] opponents here are the trial attorneys. So if you're a trial attorney, I'm wagging my finger at you stop standing in the way of construction, defect reform. But we hope to work collaboratively with them and get something advanced in, in the 2020 legislative session. Kelcy: Great. Excuse me.Thank you. So this one, I'm kind of piecing together a little bit. It's from Dan Curry, and he's interested to hear if you your take on the current environment of COVID-19 having any power to make a case at the state level, in many States that don't already have kind of the state level of legislation that favor ADUs and missing middle housing.Can you speak to that? Ezra: Sure. I mean, I think we're, we're all kind of thinking of channeling Rahm Emanuel here about not letting a good crisis go to waste. But I think it's, I think it's more fundamental than that. The value of a good set of ADU regulations exists far beyond the crisis that we're in right now.So many [00:45:00] metropolitan areas in our country are unaffordable to the people that live there. And the processes that we have in place to allow for the building of new homes continues to fail, to meet the needs of our residents. Full-stop. ADUs should be legal across the country. The process should be by right.They should be allowed to be of a size that can accommodate a growing family. They should be allowed in all areas. They should be allowed next to all types of housing and all of the old paradigm that we use to determine where housing should and shouldn't go. And what types of housing should be in those places.Really, we need to start thinking about throwing that out the window completely. We need housing in this country. We desperately need housing in this country. And the only way that we're going to achieve that is if we start to rethink the kind of rules and processes that we have in place. To allow for new housing to get built full stop.So yes, I think now is a perfect time to advance progressive [00:46:00] ADU legislation. I think once we're out of COVID 19 is a perfect time to advance progressive ADU legislation. I think when it's cold outside, it's a perfect time when it's warm outside, whether it's winter, whether it's summer, I don't care where you are in this country, we should all be working to advance progressive ADU legislation that allows for more housing to get built and more areas that will be accessible to more people.

This week's episode of "Straight Talk" examines the 2021 "State of the Economy" report with guests, Andrew Hoan, CEO of the Portland Business Alliance, John Tapogna, president of ECONorthwest, and Michelle Neiss, president of DHM research. "I would phrase this really simply as 'fire and ice,'" said Andrew Hoan. "We have had historic wildfires. We just went through historic snow and ice storms. In between it all, the pandemic, ongoing political violence, a layering of crises that has impacted the region much differently than the rest of the nation," he said. ECONorthwest's John Tapogna described the decline in the regional economy. "We're down 15% and it's a very unusual recession caused by something outside the economy, a public health crisis that has created tremendous inequities," he said. "It's very disproportionately impacting lower income households, small businesses and leaving other parts of the economy untouched."

The number of new building permits filed in Portland last year plunged by 27%, falling even below the trough of the Great Recession.A slowdown was already underway before the coronavirus pandemic hit, following a boom in new hotel and office construction in downtown Portland and new regulations on apartment builders. Then COVID-19 hit and protests rocked the downtown core, accelerating the falloff.“There’s three or four different things that all kind of happened in quick succession as the market was winding down,” said Michael Wilkerson, senior economist with the Portland consulting firm ECONorthwest.Portland’s Bureau of Development Services has notified 13 employees they will lose their jobs March 1 because of declining permitting revenue. The bureau says it’s holding off on further cuts until spring while it evaluates the market outlook.Join your host Sean Reynolds, owner of Summit Properties NW and Reynolds & Kline Appraisal as he takes a look at this developing topic.Support the show (https://buymeacoff.ee/seattlepodcast)

The global economic impact of the new coronavirus is already evident here in Oregon and the Pacific Northwest. Bob Whelan, senior economist with ECONorthwest, says that while the situation is not entirely predictable, it’s likely to further slow down the local economy. The loss of Chinese, Japanese and European tourists would hit Oregon particularly hard, and impact manufacturing and other industries as well.

This episode explains what an environmental valuation is and the role it plays in politics and management. Dr. Adam Domanski, senior economist and ECONorthwest elaborates on his experience evaluating the lower snake river dams and discussed the sociopolitical implications following his study.

Overwhelming evidence shows the damage that breaching the Snake River dams would cause farming, consumers and communities without actually helping fish. Despite this, an activist group made headlines this week saying their new study supports dam removal. But is that really what the study revealed? Todd Myers, head of the Center for the Environment at the Washington Policy Center, takes a closer look at what the ECONorthwest report really shows.

John Tapogna, president of the Portland-based economic consulting firm, ECONorthwest, recently completed a cost analysis of early childhood programs in Oregon. His work reviewed enrollment numbers, program eligibility, and cost per child spending for a suite of early childhood programs for children birth to age 5. These include publicly funded preschool, child care subsidy programs, home visiting, parent support groups, and special education services, among others. Tapogna recommends increased per child spending for almost every program as well as expanding these programs to provide rich early learning opportunities for children who are eligible. The recommended spending increases for early childhood totals about $1 billion per year. Tapogna views early childhood investments for low-income families as an imperative for the state. He also describes how funding a range of programs and services is really in service of creating a functioning early childhood system in Oregon. Note: This analysis represents estimated costs of expanding access to existing eligible populations and improving quality. It is based on baseline enrollments and costs circa 2017 and draws on a wide range of state and national data sources. The initial analysis was completed in the fall of 2018 with some updates made in March 2019.

This week: The US Treasury released new guidance for Opportunity Zone investments, which could be good news for developers; two new ECONorthwest reports find that a statewide housing shortage is contributing to regional unaffordability and homelessness; and a new survey from California reveals that voters there don't necessarily see eye to eye with academics and politicians when it comes to housing issues.

In this episode Allison Tivnon, Head of Marketing for ECONorthwest, discusses the work her company is doing to help solve some of Oregon's most complex problems; from housing affordability to infrastructure needs as Portland, and the state, grows. It was also great to chat with Allison about her career path, which began when she co-founded an independent book publishing company during graduate school at Portland State University.