Report: Housing Experts Spar over Whether Portland''s Inclusionary Zoning Works

The Portland Business Journal reported this week that while speaking at a recent pro-housing conference, Cassie Graves, a city official who coordinates inclusionary housing in the city, gave a so-so grade to the program. 

While pointing to an estimated 1,550 inclusionary housing units coming online thanks to the program since its implementation on February 1, 2017, only 475 are actually open and rented.

Developers hate the program and find ways to skirt it because, for example, it would require places like the new Ritz Carlton hotel and condo building to have affordable units in the same building unless a developer pays a hefty fee.

Portland economist Joe Cortright of City Observatory is quoted in the article as saying  

“You can talk about the units that IZ has built,” Cortright said, “but you can’t see the units that aren’t built because IZ raises the cost of housing. And we know that there’s been a collapse in the housing pipeline in Portland in the last three or four years.”

Because the IZ regulations impact developments of over 20 units, many developers are breaking hundred+ unit communities into smaller adjoining ones to avoid the threshold for mandatory compliance with IZ regulations.Prior to this month's report on 475 units being open, the city had reported 423 IZ units open as of January 31, 2022.