St. Helens Launches Housing Needs Analysis

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

November 21, 2018

St. Helens, Ore. – St. Helens is participating in a recently-launched state-wide initiative to address the major housing availability and affordability problems being experienced across Oregon.

The St. Helens community is invited to attend a kickoff meeting for the City’s first Housings Needs Analysis on Tuesday, December 11 from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. in the St. Helens Council Chambers, 265 Strand Street. This meeting will be held right before the regularly scheduling Planning Commission meeting.

Attendees will meet the consultants managing the project, receive a project overview, and review a draft housing needs forecast. At the end of the presentation, attendees will be invited to provide feedback regarding housing affordability issues facing the City of St. Helens community. Specifically, attendees will be asked to provide feedback regarding the causes and consequences of severe rent burdens within the city, the barriers to reducing rent burdens, and possible solutions. The members of the Planning Commission, acting as the project Advisory Committee, will also be participating in the local housing discussion.

Information about the Housing Needs Analysis will be uploaded to the project website (https://www.ci.st-helens.or.us/planning/page/housing-needs-analysis) throughout the planning process. The final Housing Needs Analysis document will be completed by June 30, 2019.

Background

The Department of Land Conservation and Development (DLCD) received a special appropriation of funds for 2018-2019 to assist cities in updating their comprehensive plans and land use regulations to promote housing availability and affordability across the state.

The City of St. Helens was selected for this first round of funding from DLCD to complete a Housing Needs Analysis. DLCD prioritized St. Helens for funding because the City has over 10,000 residents, has never completed a Housing Needs Analysis, and is classified as severely-rent burdened. Severely rent-burdened means that over 25 percent of renter households in St. Helens spend more than 50 percent of their household income on gross rent for housing.

According to U.S. Census Bureau data from 2016, 27 percent of the renting population in St. Helens is considered severely rent-burdened.

The overall purpose of the Housing Needs Analysis is to increase the supply and affordability of housing within the boundaries of the City. The consultant will complete products needed to update comprehensive plans and zoning codes, or adopt other housing strategies, to help ensure that the City has an available land supply to accommodate housing needs over the next 20 years. The consultants will also provide a code audit and a code update to help ensure the zoning code allows, and does not include barriers to, development of needed housing.

Anyone interested in receiving updates on the Housing Needs Analysis is encouraged to follow the City’s Facebook Page (www.facebook.com/cityofsthelens/) and subscribe to the City’s e-Newsletter (www.ci.st-helens.or.us/community/page/newsletters) where future meetings will be announced.

This meeting satisfies the City’s obligation to hold an annual housing meeting, as required by House Bill 4006. The Bill was passed in Oregon’s Legislative 2018 Regular Session and requires cities and counties with a severely rent-burdened population of at least 25 percent to hold a public meeting to discuss rent issues and submit a plan to the Housing and Community Services Department to reduce rent burdens for severely rent-burdened individuals.

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For further information regarding the Housing Needs Analysis, please contact Associate Planner Jenny Dimsho at jdimsho@ci.st-helens.or.us or 503-366-8207.