Thread by @dillonliam

THREAD: This year, Oregon passed legislation to cap rents and end single-family zoning — big policies that California tried and failed to do. I went to Portland to find out why. There are four major reasons (1/12) latimes.com/california/sto…

Oregon has a deep history of state involvement in housing. In 1973, Oregon set up an urban growth boundary, quasi-judicial land-use court and has a nonprofit @1000oregon that’s the keeper of the law. That group was a key driver behind the bill to end single-family zoning. (2/12)

California’s 1970s environmental/land-use law was the California Environmental Quality Act, which, for better or worse, is not friendly to housing development. Plus, the state’s own housing planning law has been a failure latimes.com/projects/la-po… (3/12)

Second, Oregon has success for renters at the polls last November. California had failure. Portland voters primaried a Democratic state senator who was a landlord and against rent control, and other pro-renter legislators won. CA’s rent control initiative lost by 20 points (4/12)

The results in Oregon were widely seen as a mandate for tenants. The head of the largest landlord association in the state told me: “The tide had changed. We knew we weren’t going to be able to stop” a renter bill. What passed was an annual rent cap of 7% + inflation (5/12)

Third, Oregon had a huge coalition supporting its bill to end single-family zoning in much of the state. You have realtors, developers, renter groups, nonprofits, AARP, environmentalists, etc. Here’s a letter they sent in advance of its passage (6/12)

In California, while SB 50 — the similar bill — had more supporters than last year. It did not have renter groups, those representing low-income tenants on board out of fears of gentrification and displacement. (7/12) latimes.com/politics/la-po…

Pam Phan, head of renter group @catoregon, cited the racist history of single-family only zoning as a reason to back the bill. She also said it was important for the Legislature and allies to pass the rent cap bill first before the fourplex bill to demonstrate priorities (8/12)

This coalition really isolated opponents to the fourplex bill to neighborhood groups and local governments. Oregon’s League of Cities lobbyist told me she felt like, “The cheese stands alone” when advocating against it. (9/12)

Last, Oregon House Speaker @TinaKotek was the prime mover behind the bills, taking an active role in advancing both measures with @OregonGovBrown and the state senate leader also in strong support. Leadership, especially when it comes to legislative maneuvering, matters (10/12)

So to sum up, why did Oregon pass major housing legislation that California didn’t?
•Greater history of state involvement in housing
•Recent major renter success at the polls
•Bigger coalition
•Governor and legislative leadership were the engines behind it
(11/12)

Last thing. I asked Phan, the tenant leader, about the annual rent cap percentage. There are grumblings on the left that it’s too high to be meaningful. Phan told me that she sees 7% + inflation as a starting point and plans to keep advocating for tighter restrictions. (12/12)