Portland oversight committee debates releasing studio units from preference policy to speed lease-up

Portland housing staff and nonprofit developers raised concerns at the Sept. 11 North Northeast Neighborhood Housing Strategies oversight committee meeting about slow lease-up at several new affordable buildings and proposed limited waivers to allow some studio units to be rented outside the bureau's preference policy.

The proposal came after staff reported persistent vacancies in newly built properties subject to the preference policy, and after development partners told bureau staff that studios in particular were difficult to lease to preference-policy households. Leslie Goodlow, Equity and Business Operations Manager for the Portland Housing Bureau, said the bureau had issued a temporary waiver in August allowing owners to fill certain vacant units quickly while staff address longer-term fixes.

Why it matters: preference policy gives priority to households displaced by government action; it is central to returning households to North and Northeast Portland. Committee members said they did not want to undercut that purpose but acknowledged the bureau must balance filling units and the financial…