Gov. Tina Kotek says she will ask the Oregon Legislature to approve $500 million to jump-start her push for more housing when the 2024 session begins on Feb. 5.

Kotek said that amount, largely from one-time funds, is on top of about $100 million more for shelter capacity and short-term rental assistance for the rest of the two-year budget cycle that ends in mid-2025.

The Democratic chief executive did not offer details about funding during a meeting with reporters on Tuesday, Nov. 28. But she said the money would go into a variety of programs, among them technical assistance for local governments, public works infrastructure and development.

“It is not the only ask on housing, but it is a high-priority bill,” she said during the 30-minute session in her temporary office in Salem. “I am urging legislators to be bold with one-time money to make sure we can move forward with our housing production goals.”

During her inaugural remarks on Jan. 9, and in an executive order she signed the next day, Kotek set an annual housing production goal of 36,000 units — 80% greater than the 2017-22 average of 20,000 units.

At a Sept. 28 press conference, Kotek said she is pursuing a revised version of a bill that would allow cities to relax specific restrictions to encourage housing, including a potential expansion of urban growth boundaries as an incentive. The House approved such legislation (House Bill 3414) but the Senate rejected it on the final weekend of the 2023 session, which ended June 25.

Some senators said they do not see a need for more housing. But in their Nov. 15 presentation of the quarterly economic and revenue forecast, state economists said Oregon still has a big gap to fill — one report put it at 111,000 units over the past decade — even if Oregon sees no net population growth through in-migration into the state over the next decade. (Oregon already is experiencing more deaths than births of people already here.)

Kotek also said she is coupling that $500 million request with $65 million more for transitional shelters and $33 million more for short-term rental assistance. The 2023 Legislature approved a $217 million package for expansion of shelters and other programs to avert homelessness. Much of it is targeted to the 10 counties reporting the most people in the 2022 point-in-time counts. Legislators added $26 million, with Kotek’s consent, for needs in Oregon’s 26 other counties.

Kotek set immediate goals of 600 new shelter beds, eviction prevention and 1,200 families rehoused by the end of this year.

Some of the additional money for shelters will cover gaps expected to occur when federal aid runs out in mid-2024. Kotek said some money will maintain existing shelter capacity, and some will add capacity — though it was unclear whether her request would satisfy the additional amounts sought by the League of Oregon Cities and the Oregon Mayors Association. Those groups had sought state aid based on population, but didn’t get their way.

With legislative approval of the $65 million, Kotek said, “we will understand what the state’s commitment is, what the number of shelters are and how we maintain that so that we can have an ongoing system that actually works for communities.”

According to a dashboard maintained by the Oregon Department of Housing and Community Services, the state is within reach of attaining year-end goals for eviction prevention — but far short of rehousing people. As of Sept. 30, 208 had been rehoused of the 1,200 goal. The dashboard will be updated in December, but with October numbers; Kotek said the agency needs to update it in a more timely fashion.

Kotek said rehousing has been the toughest goal to achieve.

“We do not have housing stock in our communities. It is a direct reflection of the lack of affordable housing that is available,” she said. “But we are going to keep trying. If someone comes off the streets and has gotten stable in a shelter and is provided with services, we need a place for them to go and to support them to stay housed.”

At her Sept. 28 press conference, Kotek said the issue goes back to the state’s housing shortage. She said then:

“Here’s what I tell legislators: Helping people into shelters is expensive. Shelters are expensive. Transitional housing is expensive. We are going to have a system that is stronger than we have had — and we must pivot to the conversation about housing. I’m not wanting to build more shelters. We need it in the short term, but we need more housing. If we do not get started, we are not going to get caught up.”