Washington County staff urge clarity, funding as Metro drafts regional housing coordination strategy

WASHINGTON COUNTY — County planning and housing staff on Wednesday walked the Washington County Board of Commissioners through Metro’s draft regional housing coordination strategy and outlined specific recommendations and concerns about Metro’s proposed set of 16 actions.

The presentation — led by Steven Roberts, Washington County director of land use and transportation, and Molly Rogers, director of housing services at the housing authority — summarized Metro’s October draft, described statutory context, and asked the board whether county staff should submit a comment letter included in the board packet.

Roberts said Metro is responding to state requirements tied to the Oregon Housing Needs Analysis and related legislation and that Metro has proposed a six-year strategy intended to coordinate production of a wide range of housing across the region. “Metro has indicated that there may be a need for as many as 9,000 homes each year and about two‑thirds of those to be affordable,” Roberts said. He also said the unincorporated parts of Washington County were assigned a target of about 26,000 housing units over 20 years under the state’s allocation — roughly 1,300 units per year for the county’s unincorporated area.

Why it matters

County staff framed their response around two consistent themes: (1) Metro’s draft contains items that would expand Metro’s role into activities the county and other local entities already perform, and (2) the county does not have the funds or staff capacity to absorb new regulatory or reporting requirements without outside resources. In multiple places staff asked Metro…