Recently, I testified before the Oregon House Committee on Housing and Homelessness from the front seat of my truck in Ontario. We were just about to break ground on one of our affordable housing projects: a cottage cluster.
This year, the Oregon Housing Needs Analysis showed rural counties had some of the lowest vacancy rates in the state. I own and operate GCT Land Management, an affordable housing development company in my hometown of La Grande.
The most common question I get is why it takes so long to get projects like this underway. The biggest obstacle is the process. The permitting and design phase is often painfully slow and unnecessarily complicated.
Our team started thinking about ways to develop a full package of ready-to-go housing materials that could be quickly adapted and implemented by local governments. But nothing existed until we saw the proposal for Gov. Tina Kotek’s House Bill 2258.
The bill proposes a statewide catalog of housing plans that can be adapted and designed for each city. It would allow developers like us to accelerate the pre-approval review process, while keeping in place safety and other protection standards for communities and homeowners. Kotek’s bill is cutting through red tape and making rural development doable.
Of course, any bold policy shift will require adjustments. But architectural preferences shouldn’t outweigh the urgent need to get families into safe, secure homes. Some of the most severe shortages – and the greatest opportunities – are right here in Oregon’s rural towns.
Gust Tsiatsos, La Grande
Tsiatsos is the owner of GCT Land Management, Inc.
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