A summary of our recently released report on Barriers to Housing Production in Oregon:

This brief summarizes research conducted by faculty from the Institute for Policy Research & Engagement (IPRE) on barriers to housing construction in Oregon. The research team conducted a literature review, reviewed municipal housing-related documents and plans, and conducted a survey of local government staff, private sector housing developers and nonprofit housing developers. The summary report highlights key barriers and offers recommendations on how local and state policy might soften key barriers.

To understand perspectives on barriers to housing production, we developed and administered an online survey to selected stakeholder groups. We targeted (1) local government staff (primarily planners, but other staff in cities that do not have planning staff), (2) for-profit housing developers, and (3) non-profit housing developers. A total of 323 individuals participated in the survey; 134 government representatives (41% of respondents), 105 private sector developers (33%), 52 nonprofit housing developers (16%) and 32 that could not be categorized in the three primary groups (10%).

Exhibit 1 shows the top 12 barriers reported among the 61 included in the survey ranked by the percentage of respondents indicated they barrier was “extreme.” Barriers from 4 of the 5 categories emerge in the top 12 with several barriers related to construction costs (construction and materials), industry structure, and land supply constituting the most consistently rated extreme barriers. Additionally, the mismatch in housing supply for low and moderate income to compete the market and the lack of supply keeping up with population growth are demand related barriers that are perceived as extreme.  Key conclusions from our research include:

• Barriers are varied and interact in complex ways
• Regulatory barriers are real but vary by community and are community dependent
• Land supply is generally perceived as a barrier, but the constraint is much more nuanced than having an adequate supply of land in UGBs – provision of infrastructure and the size of lots pose barriers
• Industry-related barriers (e.g., construction and labor costs; availability of labor) are significant and difficult to address with state policy
• Private and nonprofit housing developers perceive process barriers (e.g., permitting, fees, etc.) as extreme at much higher rates than the public sector.
• The private sector is not producing lower cost housing

To check out our recommended solutions and read more about our research see:

Barriers to Housing Production Brief

Barriers to Housing Production Summary Report_

Barriers Housing Production Technical Report