Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Housing Affordability topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
West Linn designated 'severely rent burdened'; city weighs zoning, subsidies and grant-funded planning
Summary
Staff said West Linn has 34% of renter households paying more than 50% of gross income on rent and that the city needs roughly 1,005 new units over 20 years; options discussed include rezoning, SDC updates, tax exemptions and targeting grant funds to implement parts of the housing production strategy.
Community Development Director Steve Koper told the West Linn City Council on Dec. 2 that Oregon Housing and Community Services data show about 34% of renter households in the city pay more than half their gross income toward rent—meeting the statutory threshold for a “severely rent burdened” designation under House Bill 4006 and related Oregon administrative rules.
“Severely rent burden is when more than 25% of renter households pay more than 50% of their income on rent,” Steve Koper said, and he cited the city’s 2023 data report that puts the West Linn rate at 34%. Koper walked council members through the May 2025 housing production strategy that identified a need for about 1,005 new dwelling units over the next 20 years, including a substantial need for units affordable to low- and very-low-income households.
Koper described the twin causes the city faces: limited zoned land for multifamily development and high infrastructure (system development charge) costs that make new housing expensive. He said affordable housing typically requires a “stack” of funding layers—land at reduced cost, tax exemptions, grant subsidies and developer partnerships—because operating costs must be bridged so units can rent at lower rates.
Councilors asked for examples and precedents. Council President Baumgartner asked whether tax-exempt projects in neighboring cities had relied on such exemptions; Koper said tax exemptions and developer subsidies had helped projects elsewhere but that Habitat for Humanity and other nonprofit providers operate on different funding models and require available land or subsidy to be feasible.
On funding, Koper said the city received a direct consultant grant covering early work on several housing-production actions and that the city requested $200,000 in a second grant but was awarded $125,000. Council directed staff to bring a work session early next year to prioritize which actions to pursue with that grant funding and to consider strategies from the housing production plan, including selective rezoning, updating SDCs and potential tax-increment financing or low-income tax exemptions.
What’s next: Staff will return in the first half of next year with a work session to prioritize housing-production strategies and to recommend how to allocate the $125,000 grant and other available resources.
