Metro moves toward finalizing six-year regional housing coordination strategy
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Summary
Metro staff presented a draft regional housing coordination strategy to the Washington County Coordinating Committee on Oct. 13, proposing 16 priority actions across six themes and a December council adoption after committee reviews in November.
Laura Combs and Erin Keyes of Metro presented a near-final draft of the Metro Regional Housing Coordination Strategy and described a narrowed set of 16 actions Metro proposes to carry out over the next six years.
Combs described the strategy as Metro—s response to the Oregon housing needs analysis framework and said staff focused on actions where the regional government can fill gaps in capacity, funding tools and coordination. "We landed on a shorter list of 44 actions ... and we landed on a narrowed down list of 16 actions across 6 different thematic categories," she said.
Key takeaways - Scope and timing: The strategy looks out six years; Metro staff intend to begin implementation immediately after council adoption and expect to start deeper research and targeted engagement on several actions in early 2026. - Priority actions: The 16 actions span accelerating housing production, research and assessment, convening/coordinating, new tools (including a regional land bank plan), policy and funding advocacy, and cross-sector collaboration. Metro staff highlighted operational stabilization and preservation of existing affordable housing as priorities alongside new production. - Public process: Metro—s public comment period was open through the week of Oct. 13; staff will brief MTAC and MPAC in November and seek Metro Council adoption in December.
Questions and next steps Mayor O'Neil asked how Metro—s operational-stabilization work (action 9) would respect local discretion and city-by-city differences. Metro staff said there is no intent to impose new mandates on jurisdictions through these actions and that some actions primarily involve research, technical assistance and funding tools rather than regulatory requirements.
Combs said the Metro team will continue to work with local staff and stakeholders to refine actions and to avoid duplicating state efforts on permitting and data collection tools.
Ending Metro aims to present a final strategy to the Metro Council in December and asked local jurisdictions to submit any remaining comments during the public comment window.
