Transcripts For CSPAN Oregon 20240704

Pew charitable trusts. [indistinct chatter] [laughter] it got quiet all of a sudden. Yeah, it did get quiet. This is big time. We are ready to go. Great. I just got■ the thus up. Which is always a good sign. Hello again. Its a pleasure to rejoin you up on the podium. I hope you enjoyed the conversation we just had about the common housing challenges of th states that montana and new york are facing. As well as a bipartisan collaboration and consensus thats being built to essentially create a pathway forward on these issues, our keynote guest certainly has a wealth of knowledge and creed of ideas to add to the discussion today. Im deeply hore kotek of oregono join us for a. Governor kotek has been a constant and consistent champion for increasing housing supply and affordability in the state legislature as the longest serving speaker of the house in oregon history and now as the governor. The only bill she introduced in the 2024 legislative session is focused around funding and other measures to strengthen Housing Access in the state. She truly is a champion and a drill this issue a trail blazer on this issue. These issues could be more worthy of our focus and attention today and im really excited that our Housing Policy Initiative team are able to bring this dialogue to you today. Im going to turn it over to sue tion. [applause] all right. Its a rare ogeek out on this s. Thank you for coming. Were going to talk about particularly what youve done in oregon around housing supply and fordability. Youve done Amazing Things there. Everybody in this room is deeply engaged in housing issues across the country. There is no state that is not struggling with some variation on what you and oregon have been trail blazers on. How youve done your work. Youve done it, i would argue, in a data driven, pragmatic, problemsolving, partisan way, which is near and dear to pews heart. That is how we do all of our work. So tell us a little bit about how how you sort of approached the work that youve done in oregon starting a speaker of the house when you were working there and got some amazing legislation passed. Thank you, sue. Thank you to pew for the opportunity to be here. Really appreciate the state policy work you do. Because we all know stuff [laughter] i think i will go back briefly to when i first got into Public Policy work. I was an advocate in the state were suffering from food sys insecurity, the ones who were going to be most successful, who could ford thefir housing, that just got worse. The cost of housing just went up and up. In my first year as governor, one of the commitments i made was to visit every county in the state of oregon. Oregon is a pretty large state. 4. 5 million people. 36the number one issue that peoe talked about was housing. Whether it was because of the significant issue they were seen on the streets, people who are unsheltered, people who moved into the community that had pretty good jobs lined up but couldnt find a place to live. Really strongly in 2016 when i was a speaker. We started working on this issue in very specific ways. What are the barriers, why are things not getting built, what could we be doing differently . We started with the data. What is the role of the state . In most states, housing, housing policy, very much locally driven. So why does the state have a role here . We heard over and over again we want things but we dont have clarity. We want to do things but we get too much push back. There was a real role for the state to come in and say if we set some statewide parameters, with local variation, we are going to make more progress. So we did look at the numbers. Im sure we ginto specific pol. But housing is a very bipartisan issue. In the reddest part of my state, they say, unit housing. Yes, we do. It is an opportunity for us to come together when you were speaker, you introduced and passed legislation that legalized missing middle homes. Townhomes, duplexes. An accessory dwelling units, a dus. Which i am now newly familiar with. My oldest daughter moved to portland, oregon. The only portland. [laughter] she called me shortly after they moved out there and said, its as exciting when you retire you can move out to portland because we are going to build an adu in the backyard. I take it as a complimentmy daughter wants to do that. Im not sure that i want to live in my daughters backyard. But its awesome to have that opportunity. I was due to a lot of the work you and others did inregon. Talk a little bit about why you took that approach. In a place lignke ogon, and i think its true in a lot of states, we really value local determination about what our communities look like and and in oregon very significantly on land use laws around zoning and things like that. Im one of those people thats so we can build singlefamily homes and multifamily apartments, but why are not building other things we see in the neighborhoods . Remember this type of housing was the norm. Being someone who grew up on the east coast im like where are the townhomes and duplexes . Some committees dont w you to build duplexes, and i was like, what . That doesnt make any sense. Shout out to minneapolis folks were doing your city work. We looked at what you did. My hometown. There you go. For me it was like t want to have unintended consequences of a voluntary approach to this. If we say to cities, you can do this, you are going to see people moving around depending on local leadership. We needed to see every commity of a certain size doing middle housing. So we took a mandatory approach s what you have to do and heres your timeline, we have every city of a certain size covered by our legislation now, the law now complying, they have model codes to allow middle Housing Options to be built. Now we have to get them built. In those existing neighborhoo, now we are talking about Different Things. What we are struggling with now is making sure there are financial incentives to get that middle housing goingl. Aarp came out in supportive middle housing. Think about it. We are aging out your large Single Family home. You want to stay in the community you are living in. I had folks nearing retirement who said i cant live in my community anymore because i cant find a place to live. So now, we want to see that different type of housing coming you can stay in the neighborhood you want to be in. There are huge equity issuefs. If neighborhoods stay the way they are, we are never going to have everybody sharing and the opportunities of established neighborhoods unless we get different Housing Options. A lot of different issues there. The building you championed as been champions for a handful of years now. What are Different Things you have to do to move things along . What we are hearing is. We are not getting the push anymore. Everybodys meeting the requirements of allowing these things to happen. Now we are hearing about having some financial incentives to help private developers as we all know, who built housing in the u. S. Seeing how they can pencil out these different types of housing arrangements. Having a shared wall. Tom home versus a townhome versus apartment. Putting money on the table to incentivize those things to move faster is our biggest challenge at the moment. Thats going to take time itt gets done. What will you do in the meantime . Other than middle housing. What are some of the approaches . One of the things from 2021 was also idea that we didnt quite know what communities goals were. We now in oregon have a housing use analysis within our state. We will be able to say here is the house and we need. Because if you dont have goals, you cant move forward. Is helpful to have that northstar. So were going to have a better idea of what communities have planned for, what they need. So we can as a state move in and say, what else can we do for you . Im sure other states are dealing with this, the inability of local government to do this work quickly. They are under resourced. We are spending time on Technical Assistance grants and model codes, all those things. Sier for you. Thats a big deal. We are setting up a housing accountability and Production Office at the state level to provide this kind of guidance. It has to be us walking alongside local government to make this happen. It would be terrific in a Perfect World local and states would partner together. Usually doesnt happen this way, what can you do to make it easier other than the things youve mentioned . Anything specifically that the mayors need as they are moving these things forward . To be very honest, we all deal with the not in my back yard syndrome. E helpful. Is to say we as a state are going to do all this. Now well help you figure out how it looks a little different in your community but if evec . Bryones thats what i heard on the middle housing piece. We want to do this but city co to help us here. Then we will help you implement it at the local level. Its really important. So policy reform. We at pew work on a lot of policy reform its never easy. Would be awesome if you had a proposal and it was all sunshine and rainbows and everybody loved it. It doesnt happen. You have everything from iintek yard, i hate it. If any policy is going to get past, you need a broad base of support. How did you build that broad base of support . Unless you have sunshine and rainbows. No sunshine and rainbows. I think a understanding that we have a problem. Theres nothing more stark at we have a housing problem than seeing people live outside. Housing is the whether its our families whose kids are moving around you ]oknow three times in a school year to someone who a senior who lost rental housing and they have no other option then living in a tent. People understand theres a problem. You have to paint that pictur for th that theres a problem is huge its really hard to ask people to do the hard things if they dont think theres a problem. You have to start there. Then i think you have to bring everybody and for the discussion. We need to do these types of codes. What do you need to seek . F ive spent a lot of time workg with local government that i had the last coupl years b they need to be heard and validated and we need to have their back when they move forward doing hard things. The power of coalition and partnership is huge. Theres not a single employer no matter what the sector who doesnt think housing is a problem for them. Labor unions know thathetheir d housing. Educators know their kids are suffering because they are experiencing housing and security. Right nowhe housiro session e Oregon Legislature you are in session, weit is a menu of te need to do. There are 50 plus organizations from housing producers to labor unions to organizations that represent the black indigenous and people of color communities in oregon who all drag. A it is a justice issue. There are a lot of people who understand we need to pass the bill. What i sent to everyone as we are going to do one bill and its going to have every item we need. Its not the sole solution but you have to talk about land supply and financing, you have to talk about streamlining regulation. You have to talk about all these things so local communities will have a full slate of things that they canard. I told our state that we need to built 36,000 units per year for the next decade. We are significantly under supplied in oregon. I think we are the forest works in the country. You just do all of it. Thathow complex housing is. You have to do all of it. How do you keep the momentum up to do that for 10 heres . You set up but infrastructure in terms of the system and then you just keep driving that will. Its great when you start with shared problem. A lot of policy thats hard to pass is when people dont necessarily agree thereproblem. So weve done a lot of research here at pew and others have done research saying that the housing shortage is driving up housing costs and higher housing costs are driving up homelessness. Do you agree withand if so, howt influence your approach to the problem of unsheltered folks in oregon . Yes, it is, the housing prices are up now. It comes down to supply and demand. What we have built has to be up. Affordable. We do allow for an expedited expansion tool for committees on the u■zrban growth bounri very specific landuse system in oregon, major cities have urban growth boundaries, if they are allowed to extend quickly under my bill, they have to show that they need the land and that they have an affordability problem and they are willing to do new construction at least 30 of which will be affordable. ■awe cant just build new. We also have to guarantee some level of that is going to be because its the number one issue. It is driving up rents, home prices, you name it across the board. I do believe this is a solvable problem but it will require us to comfortable with building a lot more. ■f ki you talked a little bitt accountability. Lets revisit that just a little bit. How are you holding the state accountable, the developers accountable, the localities accountable . Places need to pitch and if you are going to be successful. Yeah. This is a newer role for the state. We have not been as heavily involved. Weve set goals for communities and weve said here are your goals, good luck with that. We need to be a partner with them. Where are you on those ■ythings . The communities are going to have to show us what their progress is. If you set a goal, it really does help the situation. When i came in ernor, my first s to declare an emergency on unsheltered last january. We are upped that this year. But in the first year based on the resources that we allocated and working with communities with an emergency mindset, we exceeded all of our goals and providing homelessness, creating a shelter capacity, and rehousing people in the first so you set goals and you put money behind it, and then you sit down and talk to folks and call them up like, how is that going . You have to be in peope forward. Grills if y want that suppor. People want to have these things solved in their committees in communities and they need the state to step up and be with Holding People accountable, its a little eieright now we ao get what i think are the needed resources in my bill. The legislature is about halfway there. What have you got, two more weeks . [l i asked for 500 million. They are at about 200 million. Investing in housing is health care issue, Economic Development issue, education issue it is the best way to spend one time money right now in oregon. We just have to get more there. Whats it going to get to take the bill over the finish line . from a policy perspective,i feel like we are on a good track and people understand the different types of tools in the bill, but we are competing with other things. There is nothing more important than making sure we can build more housing. Were like many other states dealing with an addiction crisis. We certainly need to get more Behavioral Health treatment. But if someone comes out of their treatment and they have nowhere to live, we are back in the uacycle again. So everything for me comes back to housing and so i just put it in there and then my job is to say, are we meeting the goals . Working with local communities making sure the construction is actually happening. So do you have advice for folks in other states who may be at an earlier stage then you and oregon are, setting off on this journey to deal with some of the housing issues . What kind of advice would you give them as they are starting out . What might you have done differently, do you think . If anything . Thats a good question. I dont know about differently. ■e■ . Ankly, i wish i had started0 years ago. Halfway through my nine and a half years as a speaker, it became a top priority but we couldve started earlier because i dont think i had a good sense of how far behind we were. Wt up kicked it up to high priority for you . It just kept coming back to housing. Everything. It absolutely did. We were working hard to expand Health Insurance in the state of oregon and looking at for the first time in 30 years we had in had a new Funding Source for education. It just kept coming back to housing. Heres the other thing. You all do housing im guessing. Housing policy. Its super complex. And its a public good that is largely controlled by the private sector. Absolutely. So, you really just have to dig into the details, unlike a lot of other policy areas. So unit champions, getting those state leaders who frankly know enough to be dangerous and can sit down wdont reinvent the wh, weve tried things not just in oreg but other stas. Whats working . Places like pew and other organizations can say heres your menu, start there. Engage as soon as you can and ask local communities what they need. Were trying to change his statusstatus quo, theres a little bit of fear. But dont you think everyone should have a place to live . How about some different options . People eventually warm up to that but you have to start at the human level as quickly as you can you have a background as a community organizer, right . ■i i was a Public Policy advocate, a little bit of a committee organizer. I do believe that Public Policy of done right can actually move mountains. I suspect that stood you in good status. He started off down this path. Yeah but housing becomes about the too. So if you are a housing producer, what is your Comfort Level being part of the solution . I created a Housing Production Advisory Council last year that just gave a 59 recommendation us 59 recommendations on what we can do diffently. Some of which are included in my bill this year but not everything. For folks who are building homes, they have to make a pencil at what make a pencil, at what poeed . You also have to meet me a little bit because this is a such a crisis level we cannot assume the types of returns on housing. Housing in this country has also become mostly an investment situation. When people are not local, that is a real issue. When you dont have local owners in your community who upkeep theirousing or build more housing, thats also a challenge. This is a national issue. Weve got to get back to it or we are not going to be healthy or secure and certainly not safe. Going to give you the last word. Anything you want to say to the folks rk im just super excited everybody wants to talk about housing. [laughter] but reach out to us. Were here to provide guidance i have some great folks in my office. But state of oregon has really and we appreciate being seen as a leader, but you are all doing great work. Work hard, we got to build more housing. And its really important for all of our communities so thank you for being so engaged. Tnk you for erything youve done. For the trailblazing youve done. We are delighted to have you here. Thank you. [applause] ■ thank you, everyone. [indistinct chatter] ou so much. Thank you. [applause] announcer Congress Returns tuesday facing another deadline of midnight eastern friday to fund t government d ert a shut down. The hoe back at noon eastern. Later in the week, members will ten legislation requiring the Homeland Security department te into custody undocumented immigrants who have been charged with efwhile in the u. S. The bill is named after yrold Nursing Student Lincoln Riley who was killed in athens, georgiae country illegally. Thursday lawmakers will meet joint session in the house chambetoear President Biden deliver his state of the union adess. The senate also returns tuesday at 3 p. M. Eastern. They will consider several of president bes executive nominations and vote to reauthorize a law compensating americans exposed to radiation by the federal government. Watch live coverage of the house on cspan, see the senate on cgrsionalnd a reminder you b n congression coverage with ur app. On wedsday, Jerome Powell testifies on the federal reserves monetary policy. See e House Financial Services Committee Live at 10 a. M. Stern on cspan3, cspan now, or online at the. At cspan. Org. Announcer as President Biden prepares for his state of the union address, cspan encourages you to express your opinion and engage. We want to know which issue is most important to you . One of the most important issues for me is the fentanyl crisis. Also the Mental Health crisis thats going on in this nation. Is jacob rountree. I do research in history and social theory. I think the most see discussed is the gains the threats that Artificial Intelligence poses to our civilization which might undermine our ability to have a fully employed economy and might threaten our my name is snyder, id like the president to close the border. We are getting too many people illegally and here. It is getting overwhelming and a lot of crime. I am aisha from new jersey. I would like to see the president address anything related to gaza and palestine. Ow. It sucks to see ignorance and people