SALEM -- House Democrats on Tuesday unveiled a major addition to their increasingly crowded agenda for the short 2016 legislative session: finding ways to immediately relieve Oregon's housing crisis.
The announcement closed a two-hour housing committee hearing that highlighted the plight of low-income renters across the state -- alongside advocates' pleas for more investment in housing programs, new revenue sources, a one-year moratorium on no-cause evictions, and an end to state limits on local affordable-housing mandates and rent control.
Rep. Alissa Keny-Guyer, chairwoman of the House's housing and human services committee, said she would bring forward a lengthy bill on those concepts in February.
"We cannot wait for a bold agenda in 2017," said Keny-Guyer, a Portland Democrat. "We need to act. This is a crisis. ... It's a really tall order, but it's one we need to take on."
She said she'll have preliminary language for the bill filed by next Tuesday. And then, she said, she'll spend the next two months talking with housing advocates, builders, local governments, and lobbyists for real estate agents and landlords to craft something politically feasible.
"We'll try to get as many things in there as we can," she said, stressing that she won't support reforms that slow housing construction.
Keny-Guyer said she'll work particularly closely with the Oregon Housing Alliance, an umbrella group of nonprofits, service providers and community groups dedicated to increasing the state's stock of affordable housing.
The group's director, Janet Byrd, was the last of more than a dozen speakers -- on both sides of the issue -- to address the committee. Her testimony was billed as a wish list for 2016: $60 million more for affordable housing construction, a one-year pause on evictions issued without explanation, and at least a discussion on lifting state bans on rent control and inclusionary zoning.
Those kinds of ideas have found support in the state. Portland, which declared a housing emergency in September, voted last month to give tenants 90 days' notice when facing a no-cause eviction or a 5 percent rent increase.
But housing groups have clamored for more government action, stunned by major rent increases that have hit tenants even as builders add thousands of units to the state's supply.
Advocates say much of that market-rate construction caters to wealthier Oregonians and migrants from other states. State figures shared Tuesday show Oregon has 131,000 "extremely low-income" households but just 28,500 available units in their price range.
"The Legislature has an obligation to control some of that speculation, some of that rampaging greed, that's in the marketplace," Byrd said. "I would ask that you take really bold and decisive action in 2016."
Jon Chandler, leader of the Oregon Home Builders Association, told the committee his group welcomed the conversation and acknowledged a need for more money to subsidize rents
But he begged lawmakers not to get in the way of new construction.
He joined others representing builders and property owners in asking lawmakers to speed up construction permitting. And he said the state should be open to amending its decades-old urban growth boundaries, which constrain development around cities to promote density and preserve farmland and natural areas.
"I understand this is a theological issue and people break out in hives every time it comes up," he said. "But our land-use system has costs."
Gwenn Baldwin, a lobbyist for the landlord group Multifamily NW, said the group understands the struggles renters face in a market where vacancy rates statewide are hovering at 3 percent and "demand is pushing prices way up."
She strongly cautioned against restricting no-cause evictions, arguing that landlords use them not to raise prices -- something advocates repeatedly testified about Tuesday -- but to weed out problem tenants. Baldwin also said rent control hasn't worked to keep costs down in other cities, such as San Francisco.
Instead, she suggested finding more money for short-term payments to help keep renters from losing their apartments, adding a temporary surcharge to recording fees, and earmarking lodging taxes earned from short-term rentals such as Airbnb.
The debate over Keny-Guyer's housing bill will add intrigue to a legislative session already shaping up as a battle over a minimum-wage increase. But she appears to have high-profile interest. Gov. Kate Brown's housing adviser, Dani Ledezma, attended the meeting. So did House Speaker Tina Kotek, D-Portland, who was given a guest spot on the committee's dais.
Less clear is how the bill will fare in the Senate -- which killed legislation, approved in the House last session, that would have partially lifted the state's ban on inclusionary zoning. Such zoning can be used to require developers to include affordable units in their projects.
Sen. Michael Dembrow, D-Portland, chairman of the chamber's workforce committee, said he's considering a housing bill in his own committee.
"Some people say we should not be raising the minimum wage but instead be focused on housing," he said. "I don't see it as an either/or. We need to attack the problem of poverty from both directions."
Marih Alyn-Claire, a member of the Community Alliance of Tenants, urged lawmakers to act quickly. Waiting years for the market to catch up to demand won't help people, like her, on the brink right now, she said.
"The problem is they can't build it fast enough for people whose lives are about to go over a cliff," said Claire, who's looking for a new home after her rent climbed by 60 percent over three years. "We'll never be able to build our way out of this crisis."
-- Denis C. Theriault
503-221-8430; @TheriaultPDX