City considers ways to build more housing and lower rents as part of state initiative

Half of Salem’s renters and a quarter of its homeowners are struggling to make ends meet, spending more than 30% of their income on keeping a roof overhead. 

That’s according to a presentation the Salem City Council and Salem Planning Commission heard during a joint session on Monday, sharing an overview of 18 proposals to make housing more affordable, accessible and to build more of it.

They included offering homeowners help with their down payments using federal grants, expanding tax breaks for people building multi-family housing and creating areas where a nonprofit owns the land people buy homes on, called a community land trust.

Beth Goodman, a consultant at ECONorthwest, shared slides with proposals including zone changes, a new urban renewal area, homebuyer assistance programs and more. Her team is working with the city to develop its first Housing Production Strategy, as required by the state, which will guide work over the next six years. 

Goodman said the proposals revolve around the idea of helping more people afford a place to live, and to give residents more options.

“This isn’t just about housing production, it’s about preservation and increasing access to housing,” she said. 

The council and planning commission held a work session about creating the Housing Production Strategy last June. Since then, the consultants hosted focus groups, community meetings and a public survey, which Goodman said asked them to prioritize affordable and workforce housing, help promote homeownership and emphasize locations with access to transportation.

The proposals include revising zoning codes to look for barriers to development and opportunities to fill unused spaces with housing. They also suggest having a dedicated point of contact at the city for developers with permit questions.

Another option is to move forward with a new North Waterfront Urban Renewal Area, covering north of downtown. When an urban renewal area is created, it freezes the assessed property values inside its boundaries, limiting the amount of taxes the city, county and other local government entities can collect. 

When property values go up over time, the additional taxes collected beyond that frozen point go toward the urban renewal district for planned redevelopment projects. Such taxes would normally go to the city’s general fund and pay for general city operations like police and fire.

Some of the proposals build on recent city efforts, like expanding permission for homeowners to build additional living spaces for renters on their property, finding new ways to incentivise development with tax breaks, and adding hundreds of new apartments with reduced rent. 

Read the full list of proposals the council will consider here.

The meeting served as an introduction to the proposals and a chance for the group to ask general questions about them. They’ll be discussing them more in-depth in the coming months, and may choose to remove some options.

Some councilors shared priorities for the next draft, asking for focused consideration on topics like preventing homelessness, and trade-offs with potential tax income which could otherwise go to city services like the library amid a nearly $14 million budget deficit.

“There’s a trade-off any time you incentivise development,” said Councilor Vanessa Nordyke.

The planning commission will host public hearings about the proposals, likely in May or June, before adopting them according to the city website.

Contact reporter Abbey McDonald: [email protected] or 503-575-1251.

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