How will the new Single Family Home Zoning Ban Change Oregon? (Portland: sale, real estate)

[harrishawke]

This wouldn't surprise me if it was just Portland proper, but towns with populations as little as 10,000?

https://reason.com/2019/07/01/oregon...family-zoning/
https://www.npr.org/2019/07/01/73779...-family-zoning

[PNW-type-gal]

Since there are duplexes down the street from me that predate this, I think my town (of 82,000) changed the zoning (assuming they ever had zoning that prevented it) much earlier.

I definitely don't want to see a 15 story apt building with no off-street parking go up next door to me, but, particularly on in-fill building, I don't see anything wrong with duplexes and triplexes within city limits.

Bunch of options not available in the "poll" - "this isn't really a big deal" and "duplexes are hardly high density housing,"

[DKM]

Let's be honest. It's a good thing for the existing homeowners because now they have something valuable and of limited supply. It was easy to get their support. How do I know? I live where this concept (increasing existing values by banning more) was pretty much invented. I also just participated in a sale to developers near Portland and part of the deal is this is rare single family home only buildable land.

[oregonwoodsmoke]

I don't particularly think it is a great idea to allow more people to move to Oregon, if OP thinks that is the benefit of building duplexes.


Probably all towns in Oregon have allowed duplexes on properly zoned lots. Bend has allowed duplexes on double size lots.


Most homeowners can't put in a duplex because lots in Oregon are too small. Or maybe duplexes will be stacked, one over the other, which will make them no better to live in than an apartment building.


In some areas, it will make parking even worse than it already is.

[Silverfall]

It is generally a good thing for Oregon. I'm a real estate agent and I invest so I look at it from two different lenses.

You need to understand how the law works for starters. You won't have houses being torn down for apartments because the law doesn't change the zoning. It just changes what is allowed within that zone. Apartments are a high-density zone and homes are a single-family zone. Cities will still designate parcels of land for those zones. It is just that in the SF zone, they can add 2-4 plexes/cottage clusters depending on how the city creates those codes.

The state left the details of the codes up to the cities. Salem is creating their codes right now and they have to have them hashed out by 2021. It isn't like upscale neighborhoods will suddenly have apartments or duplexes all over the place without thought, but we have some large 1/2 parcels in older neighborhoods with a 600 sq foot home on them that would be better served with a cottage cluster or some other housing than a tiny house on a big lot.

I have a project I'm doing right now that is an older bungalow that was on the derelict list that we are almost done repairing and it has a 988 square foot shop off the back alley. We are turning that shop into an ADU. I had wanted to split it into two micro-units for more affordable housing, but since the codes aren't ready for that, it will be one more expensive ADU.

The working poor/lower middle class in my area are all 1-2 paychecks away from homelessness since rents are insane here. I know they are since I am a landlord. We need smaller more affordable units created to keep as many of our lower-income residents from joining the Rite Aid tent camp. And yes, cities of 10,000 as they often surround the metros. Independence has housing going up like crazy and it is selling fast. That city is booming. It is best to add some affordable options as a city grows rather than being late to the party and dealing with homelessness later.

[Hemlock140]

Here in our area most homes are on 12,000+ sf lots. 10 years ago zoning was changed to allow duplexes (and our taxes went up). Since then only one neighbor has added a tiny home on their lot next to their house. The rest have remained as is. The Oregon bill bans SF zoning, not SF homes. Developers simply have a choice of building SF homes, duplexes, or small apartment buildings. If the demand is for SF homes, they will continue to build them, and this bill won't make any difference. Only time will tell.

[harrishawke]

Looks like there is some big pushback from city leaders, in affluent towns like Lake Oswego and West Linn.

https://themreport.com/daily-dose/11...-family-zoning

[Cloudy Dayz]

Originally Posted by oregonwoodsmoke

I don't particularly think it is a great idea to allow more people to move to Oregon, if OP thinks that is the benefit of building duplexes.


Probably all towns in Oregon have allowed duplexes on properly zoned lots. Bend has allowed duplexes on double size lots.


Most homeowners can't put in a duplex because lots in Oregon are too small. Or maybe duplexes will be stacked, one over the other, which will make them no better to live in than an apartment building.


In some areas, it will make parking even worse than it already is.

Bingo. That is exactly what I would expect is going to happen. They will stack them. I bet most landlords won't even tear down to do it. They will just tear the roof off an existing house and plop a new house on top of it, and double their income. It's just another way to jam more people in smaller space.

[Larry Caldwell]

Originally Posted by Cloudy Dayz

Bingo. That is exactly what I would expect is going to happen. They will stack them. I bet most landlords won't even tear down to do it. They will just tear the roof off an existing house and plop a new house on top of it, and double their income. It's just another way to jam more people in smaller space.

Yeah, that's not going to happen. Oregon has had building codes even longer than it has had land use planning.

[texasdiver]

Originally Posted by oregonwoodsmoke

I don't particularly think it is a great idea to allow more people to move to Oregon....

Seriously? And you would "disallow" people from moving here how exactly? Build a wall? Create a state office of homeland security and issue visas at the border?

Rather than all the fear and loathing, it is easy enough to find places around the world that don't have single family home zoning. For example, most of Europe has no single family home zoning. It doesn't mean no regulation and things like finding high-rise apartments, coal mines, or chicken plants in your back yard. It just means that cities can't ban duplexes or town homes depending on the neighborhood. I generally think that is a good thing. For a nearby example, visit British Columbia. They have been allowing infill development and duplexes in Vancouver for a long time now.

Oregon has three choices in the face of economic growth:

1. Grow upwards (or more dense)
2. Grow outwards (more sprawl)
3. Grow more expensive.

It will almost certainly going to be a combination of those three. But government policy can push the emphasis in one direction or the other.