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Washington County planners briefed on new state housing-needs rules, outreach and timelines
Summary
County planners received a detailed briefing on the Oregon Housing Needs Analysis rulemaking, including new requirements for jurisdiction-specific analyses, fair-housing issue-area work, and timelines that will require county capacity work through 2026–2027. Staff said robust local engagement and a housing production strategy will be required.
Deborah Lockwood, chair of the Washington County Planning Commission, on Dec. 4 heard a presentation from Anne Kelly, senior planner, on the Oregon Housing Needs Analysis (ONA) rulemaking and what it will require of the county.
Kelly said the ONA updates how the state implements statewide planning Goal 10 (housing) and Goal 14 (urbanization), shifting work from a narrow land-capacity focus to analyses that promote housing production, affordability and choice. She told commissioners the rules require jurisdiction-specific quantitative and qualitative analyses, including a contextualized housing-need assessment and a fair‑housing issue‑area analysis that examines past discriminatory land-use actions and maps their local impacts.
"It expands how the state, regional and local governments address our housing work — from land capacity to actions that promote housing production, affordability, and choice," Kelly said. She added the rules call for multi‑departmental engagement with protected classes, tribal communities, people with disabilities and those experiencing homelessness.
Kelly said the Department of Land Conservation and Development (DLCD) is drafting administrative rules and that the Land Conservation and Development Commission will vote on rules for housing needs/production and accountability soon, while rules on housing capacity and urbanization must be adopted by Jan. 1, 2026. Local jurisdictions will need to produce housing production strategies after each housing-capacity analysis and could face an "acceleration" process from the state if found to be underperforming.
Commissioners asked for clarity on terms such as "restorative justice" and "affirmatively furthering fair housing." Kelly said definitions were in the draft rules and that the public record and advisory committees have been working on those details; she emphasized the state anticipates a mix of funding and planning assistance but said some elements remain unfunded at present.
The presentation signaled that Washington County will be responsible for producing several new deliverables, conducting hyperlocal outreach, and aligning code and plan amendments to meet the state timetable over the next several years. The county staff recommended additional briefings for commissioners as rulemaking advances.
The commission did not take formal action during the discussion; staff said the products will be before the board and county planning staff will return with more detailed materials as drafts are finalized.
