How shall a City accommodate growth while addressing the community’s current and future housing and employment needs? Creating opportunities for an inclusive and diverse housing inventory has been an identified goal of City Council for years, and Oregon State Law assigns cities such as Hood River the responsibility to provide housing needed for citizens of all income levels. The City recently worked with ECONorthwest to update its housing data with a new report, “Housing Market & Demographic changes from 2015-2019.” The document supplements the City’s 2015 Housing Needs Analysis (HNA) that describes how to utilize available land to accommodate growth of needed housing types while meeting the needs of households at all income levels.
The City is moving this goal forward in a number of ways with projects to improve the “missing middle” housing supply through development code, zone changes, and permitting improvements. It’s also exploring land acquisitions and researching incentives for construction of smaller homes and more affordable housing products.
Hood River’s housing market continues to change, as indicated by housing markers related to affordability, supply and population. The housing update concludes what many have already surmised — since 2015, population has continued to grow, and housing has become less affordable. Hood River continues to have a need for housing at all income levels and specifically affordable to households earning less than $75,000/year. Learn more in the City’s Winter 2020 E-News article.