PAH 2026 POLICY TOOLKIT
In 2026, Partners for Affordable Housing is educating community members on broadly supported policy solutions that will lower housing costs and increase supply. The PAH 2026 Policy Toolkit helps elected leaders and community members learn how key strategies can change the housing cost equation--and create more affordable housing for everyone.
The policies in PAH's 2026 Policy Toolkit focus on the variables that elected leaders have the greatest opportunity to influence: government fees and process, land availability, workforce, and the cost of capital.
To develop the 2026 Policy Toolkit, coalition members met in small groups to learn about and discuss shared priority policies. These small groups contained representatives from labor, affordable housing builders, market rate builders, nonprofit leaders and service providers, as well as people representing impacted populations.
Recommendations from the small groups were brought to subject matter experts for additional context and development. From there, the PAH Steering Committee helped refine the language and focus of the priorities. Finally, the entire coalition voted on adoption of the toolkit.
PAY 2026 POLICY TOOLKIT
Jump to policy recommendations related to:
Government fees and processes
ADOPTED JULY 2026
Government fees and processes are the most costly factors in Central Oregon housing prices within the control of elected leaders. System development charges, permitting fees, and the insecurity and length of the planning process all lead to high costs for housing in our region. We need more strategies for reducing or spreading out costs assessed by government.
1. Implement system development charge waivers for low income homes (<80% AMI) and deferrals or tiered SDCs for workforce housing (80 to 120% AMI) in cities. Waivers and deferrals of permitting and planning fees should be offered by Deschutes County.
System development charges are fees that housing builders pay to cover costs related to growth impacts on roads, sewer and water systems. SDCs are important revenue sources, but they drive up housing costs and are deterrents to housing development especially for affordable and workforce housing. Waivers of these fees should be expanded for housing serving people of <80% AMI with deed restrictions, and deferred or tiered structure fees offered for housing affordable to people earning from 80 to 120% AMI–or, if possible, a waiver up to 120% in order to incentivize support for workforce housing, which could make a significant impact on the market. At the County, permitting and planning fees should be waived or deferred. Specifically, PAH recommends:
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In Bend, offer SDC waivers on a tiered structure up to 120% AMI.
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In La Pine, Redmond, and Sisters waivers should be offered up to 80% AMI for rental and homeownership with deed restriction, and deferrals should be offered up to 120% AMI for homeownership with deed restriction.
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At Deschutes County, waivers should be offered for permitting and planning fees for <80% AMI and deferrals should be offered for workforce housing from 80 to 120% AMI.
2. Require standardized, site-specific, pre-application guidance that gives applicants reliable information they can use to submit complete engineering applications and keep pro formas on track.
Pre-application meetings at the City and County level are intended to give builders direction on issues and questions before they invest in their projects. Unfortunately, staff often give guidance which is later changed during the development process. Shifting, subjective, or preference-based feedback forces rework, delays projects, increases carrying costs, and ultimately increases housing prices. We need elected leaders to hold planning departments to a higher standard of commitment to the guidance provided in pre-application meetings.
3. Cities should publish a public Shot-Clock Transparency Dashboard or information portal that documents how quickly final engineering plans are moving through the planning department from submission through completeness. This dashboard will help ensure compliance with Oregon's new 120-day shot clock adopted by the Oregon Legislature in SB 974 (2025).
Under SB 974 (2025) a 120-day shot clock speeds review of final engineering plans for housing, but cities can delay the clock by repeatedly deeming applications “incomplete.” Without visible data, communities and applicants can’t tell whether the shot clock is being honored, undermining the law’s intent. For instance, to provide transparency, the City of Bend could include two new charts on its Permit Turnaround Time Dashboard: one bar chart indicating how many plans have been deemed incomplete by month, and a second timeline chart showing the number of days each project has been sitting prior to being deemed complete, including those past the 120-day mark.
4. Create expedited-review pathways for residential projects that commit a defined share of units to long-term affordability. Eligible projects receive accelerated timelines, reduced discretionary review, fee incentives, and prioritized staff processing in exchange for binding affordability commitments.
Affordable housing projects can face long review timelines that increase costs and threaten feasibility. Small and rural jurisdictions such La Pine, Redmond, Sisters, and Deschutes County need clear, fast pathways to produce affordable units quickly.
Land availability
ADOPTED JULY 2026
In Central Oregon, land available for residential development inside urban growth boundaries is often priced at a premium, making it difficult for developers to build homes that are affordable to low- and middle-income families. We need more land inside the UGB to increase supply and bring costs down.
1. Reduce street widths in all cities.
Over time, street widths have increased in all cities in Deschutes County. On infill lots street width standards can often mean losing a unit or two. With larger subdivisions, entire blocks of potential housing can be lost. Narrower streets also calm traffic, creating safer, more walkable and bikeable routes through cities. Elected leaders should call for common sense reductions in the width of streets.
2. Align local tree codes with state defensible space protection guidelines, and provide annual evaluations of the impacts of local tree codes on housing affordability.
Tree codes help protect an urban canopy that creates shade for cooling and a greater sense of livability. But tree codes also strongly impact housing production and cost because they discourage building homes where trees grow by requiring mitigation payments and buffer zones. We recommend aligning the local tree codes, such as the City of Bend’s, with state defensible space protection guidelines, which encourage the removal of some trees around homes because they are highly flammable. Local tree codes should be paired with broader landscape strategies (e.g., incentivized planting of native, low‑water trees on public land and focus on high‑value species) so mature, water-wise trees remain protected while preventing tree protections from blocking affordable housing production.
3. Prioritize development of infrastructure that opens up lands for housing, and access state and federal sources of funding including Oregon’s Moderate Income Revolving Loan (MIRL).
Significant parcels suitable for housing remain effectively locked up inside city limits in Deschutes County--such as in Southeast Bend--because necessary infrastructure such as sewer lines, water lines, or roads have not yet been built. The absence of infrastructure means that even if builders are ready to get to work, they must either pay for major infrastructure costs up front without support from local government, or attempt to rally a complex network of other property owners to tackle the problem together. These options add housing costs. Local governments should prioritize infrastructure funding to lands where homes are likely to be built quickly once infrastructure projects are complete. It is also imperative that local governments do all that can be done to access available state funding sources such as MIRL or those funds may be withdrawn and no longer offered to local jurisdictions as support. Lastly, local and County governments should regularly prioritize seeking federal funding for infrastructure that supports housing development.
4. Every city in Deschutes County should adopt and maintain an urban reserve plan that identifies and preliminarily evaluates lands suitable to accommodate 50 years of residential growth.
Urban reserves streamline UGB expansions, reduce speculation, and provide a predictable, pre-vetted supply for land for housing development. Without designated urban reserves, cities in Deschutes County must repeatedly re-evaluate and redesignate expansion lands whenever they pursue UGB amendments. This reinvention increases uncertainty, fuels land speculation, lengthens timelines, and raises costs — delaying the conversion of land into residential development and constraining housing supply. Local, regional and state leaders should strategize together to reduce process and cost barriers that make it harder to implement urban reserves.
Workforce
ADOPTED JULY 2026
A nationwide shortage of skilled construction labor is getting worse as retirees leave the trades. This shortage leads to increased overall costs, reduced efficiency, and, in some cases, delayed or canceled projects—all of which hinder the delivery of affordable homes. We need to invest in building the construction workforce to help lower housing costs.
1. Funding and support for construction workforce development programs should be prioritized by elected leaders to expand the labor pipeline, reduce per-unit labor costs, and accelerate housing delivery.
A persistent shortage of trained construction workers in Deschutes County and across Oregon raises labor costs, delays projects, and reduces housing output. Insufficient funding for apprenticeship programs, trade training, recruitment, and retention initiatives limits the pipeline of carpenters, laborers, electricians, plumbers, and prefab technicians—forcing projects to compete for scarce labor, increasing wages and scheduling volatility that are passed through to homebuyers and renters.
2. Fund targeted homeownership programs for construction-trade workers to improve worker retention, local stability, and the region’s long-term building capacity.
Many construction-trade workers in Deschutes County and across Oregon cannot afford to buy homes where they work. High housing costs, limited affordable ownership options, and workforce churn force workers to commute long distances or leave the region. This increases turnover, raises hiring/training costs for employers, and weakens local capacity to deliver and maintain housing. Elected leaders should advocate for programs that support this workforce to afford housing of their own.
3. Expand eligibility for the Childcare for Construction Program to include a broader swath of construction trades workers—not just apprentices and early-career journey workers.
Oregon’s Child Care for Construction (CCC) Program helps apprentices and early-career journeyworkers by capping child care costs at or below 7% of household income, but its current eligibility limits exclude many mid-career and longer‑term tradespeople. As a result, experienced workers still face unaffordable child care that drives turnover, reduces regional retention, and undermines workforce stability and productivity in the construction sector.
4. Broaden affordable access to BOLI‑approved construction curricula and fund more apprenticeship and training programs statewide.
Oregon lacks sufficient statewide access to standardized, BOLI‑approved construction training curricula. Many training programs, community colleges, and employer-run apprenticeships face inconsistent course content, high curriculum licensing costs, and limited availability of approved materials—resulting in uneven worker skills, duplication of effort, and barriers to scaling workforce pipelines across regions
Cost of Capital
ADOPTED JULY 2026
Securing financing for housing projects is increasingly challenging. Interest rates, lender risk assessments, and equity requirements all impact the cost of building homes. Higher borrowing costs makes housing more expensive. We need government leaders to help make it easier and cheaper for builders to access capital for homebuilding.
1. Cities in Deschutes County should pass general obligation bonds for housing.
Across the West, general obligation bonds for housing have been game changers for communities. GO Bonds can support land acquisition for housing, construction of units, and funding of infrastructure that leads directly to the building of new homes. Portland, Seattle, San Francisco have all successfully passed GO bonds that have dramatically increased housing production–and lowered costs. In Central Oregon, we experience some of the highest housing costs in the state, but public investments often go to Portland because their GO bond funding can match state investments, leaving Central Oregonians out in the cold.
2. Cities in Deschutes County should adopt city-administered credit enhancement programs that lower interest costs for builders while capping municipal risk through clear underwriting, limited exposure, and repayment protections.
High financing costs and limited access to affordable capital increase development costs and reduce the feasibility of housing projects, especially affordable and infill developments. Private lenders charge higher rates for marginal projects or small builders with limited balance sheets, constraining supply.
3. Cities in Deschutes County should adopt small‑scale, flexible tax‑increment financing (TIF) and related local financing tools targeted specifically at enabling affordable homeownership and small infill projects.
Small, shovel‑ready housing and homeownership projects, especially affordable for-sale homes, small infill developments, and community land trust projects, struggle to compete for capital because upfront infrastructure and site costs raise per‑unit prices. Traditional large-scale tax increment financing tools are often too big, slow, or politically contentious for these smaller projects, leaving viable homeownership options unfunded and limiting pathways to permanently affordable ownership.
4. Deschutes County, Bend, Redmond, La Pine and Sisters should adopt vacancy fees to discourage long-term residential vacancies, increase housing availability, and generate revenue for affordable housing programs.
Long-term vacant residential properties reduce available housing supply, encourage speculation, and depress neighborhood vitality. Persistent vacancies tie up housing stock that could serve renters or homeowners, slow neighborhood turnover needed for workforce housing, and exacerbate affordability pressures
