Portland's expensive housing and its leadership vacuum: Editorial Agenda 2015

Originally Posted by 2bpurrfect

So untrue. There may be nothing YOU can think of. But these office holders are paid to think of things or at least take other people's ideas into consideration and come up with a good plan. I think they are trying to do just that.
I like Hales. He has a heart and a conscience and a brain. Unlike certain other Mayors in history of pdx.
This team is better than a few others before them.

Meh.

I haven't seen anything coming out of city council or the mayor that would make me think they're serious about solving Portland's issues.

Hales is only making noise now because he's about to face a tough election fight against a serious opponent. Of course sticking Wheeler in that office won't mean a damn thing if we keep the same people on city council.

[CanuckInPortland]

Everyone seems to assume that the entire population and city have an interest in stabilizing the cost of housing. The City has licked it's lips as property values(and property taxes) have gotten higher with gentrification in neighborhoods that were dirt cheap in the 80s and 90s(all city governments love this). Also 50 percent of Portland householders are owner occupied and not renters. Most property owners are initially happy when property values go up. My neighbors brag about how much they're going to sell their houses for that they bought 20-30 years ago(or longer). Are they bad for doing this? No, they're just people trying to make a little cash in a capitalist society, they're not rich developers, they put some money fixing up their homes and now want to sell to make a profit and go retire somewhere else. The neighborhood associations look at ways to fix up streets and parks, attract new businesses--these all go to making property values go up. And as they go up, the cost goes up for renters too.

Subsidized affordable housing is sort of a small drop in the bucket, the City will sort of do it when it's politically necessary or pay lip service to it. But building affordable housing ends up being expensive these days too(and no one wants to build really cheap housing in Portland these days). Also, the idea that some subsidized units in the expensive inner neighborhoods is going to make a big difference is silly. Many of the inner neighborhoods were too expensive for my wife and I...and we have a very nice combined income well above the median figure. People who make just above minimum wage are complaining they can't live in the hip expensive inner neighborhoods? The city should focus on bringing better basic services to outer neighborhoods that are more affordable instead of trying to build affordable housing in expensive areas--though improving services eventually brings up property values as well.

Then there's the idea that property values would suddenly go back down if "People just stopped moving here!" I've heard this again and again. Guess what, people aren't stopping moving here for the time being, no matter how loud people yell on internet forums(not just this one). I hear some people in Portland actually hoping for a recession or real estate bust so prices drop off(though that means there's less jobs for everyone and maybe you won't even be able to afford cheap rent when jobs are even more scarce and the unemployment rate goes back up). I hear other people that are against building any new housing or denser housing or expanding the UGB, or doing anything, but then complain about the price of housing. If you don't build enough housing for demand--prices go up...that's not rocket science. If the price of housing suddenly does crash, you'll have property owners(the other half) looking for ways to eventually bring them back up again.

I agree that the market has gotten way too hot for it's own good, lately and rents are scary how much they've climbed--though I think the overall costs won't really be brought down in the short run by city government policies. Portland is just an increasingly expensive place.