Housing and coastal groups urge fuller funding for DLCD in public hearing on Senate Bill 5528

PORTLAND, Ore. — Four witnesses told a Senate committee Thursday that the Department of Land Conservation and Development needs more funding to help cities speed housing production and to support coastal management programs.

Testifiers addressed Senate Bill 5528, the department’s budget bill, during a public hearing and urged the committee to support technical assistance packages and coastal-program funding the agency uses to implement the Oregon Housing Needs Analysis and other land-use work.

Michael Anderson with Sideline Institute said the scale of Oregon’s housing shortage makes cheaper building approaches essential. "That would cost us about $4,000,000,000 per biennium," Anderson said of meeting the shortage using only regulated affordable housing, and he described smaller technical-assistance investments as “a very modest investment with a potentially huge payoff.” Anderson called attention to Policy Option Package (POP) 503 and said POP funding such as an item he identified as roughly $200,000 would support advisory committees developing adoption-ready code and planning tools.

Shannon Vilhauer, executive director of Habitat for Humanity of Oregon, said the Oregon Housing Needs Analysis shows the state must invest in new housing and that local governments can remove barriers and activate sites for single-family, multifamily and "middle home" construction. "Local governments have the power to help mobilize appropriate sites for the construction of this much needed housing," Vilhauer said, adding that Habitat’s 23 local affiliates can help address supply shortfalls.

Alexandra Ring, housing and land use lobbyist for the League of Oregon Cities, told the committee the workload of implementing recent land-use legislation has been substantial for city staff and that ongoing technical assistance is needed. Ring noted that about 60% of cities face fiscal cuts by the end of the current biennium and said the proposed funding increase would bolster local capacity to carry out new and complex regulatory requirements.

Charley Plyben, Oregon policy manager for the Surfrider Foundation, testified on behalf of the Oregon Ocean Alliance and urged the committee to prioritize state investments for the Oregon Coastal Management Program, which the witness said relies heavily on federal funding. Plyben said the alliance is concerned that coastal-management POPs did not appear in the governor’s recommended budget and asked the legislature to consider additional funding and pending bills to support coastal habitat stewardship.

Committee leaders opened the public hearing on SB 5528 at the start of the session, took testimony from the four witnesses above, had no committee questions, and then closed the hearing. No votes or formal committee actions on the bill were recorded during the hearing.

Why it matters: Witnesses framed the DLCD budget as central to carrying out the Oregon Housing Needs Analysis, advancing local housing production, and coordinating coastal and ocean management. Testimony focused on a mix of technical assistance (POPs 501, 503 and 505 were repeatedly cited), modest line items such as the roughly $200,000 advisory-committee funding Anderson mentioned, and the risk that coastal programs could lose capacity if state investments do not supplement uncertain federal grants.

The committee did not take votes or direct staff to prepare draft legislation during the hearing; testimony was recorded for the committee’s consideration as it deliberates the governor’s budget recommendation.