Oregon Housing Summit, Jan. 21

Salem, Ore., January 17, 2020 – The first-annual Oregon Housing Economic Summit (“Summit”), presented by the Oregon Home Builders Association, the Oregon Bankers Association and the Oregon Association of REALTORS® was held yesterday in Salem. The event drew over 400 participants representing the homebuilding, banking and real estate industries, as well as public officials and other stakeholders. Senior Economist and Director of Housing and Commercial Research at the National Association of REALTORS® Gay Cororaton, CBE, and Dr. Michael Wilkerson, partner and director of analytics with ECONorthwest, addressed economic and housing affordability issues. Policies impacting housing supply at the local level were tackled during a panel discussion with City of Tigard’s Community Development Director Kenny Asher and Sightline Institute’s Senior Researcher Michael Andersen. For an on the ground perspective, industry representatives discussed trends and barriers to housing development, financing, and homeownership. Panelists included Susan Brown, senior vice president and construction production manager at Umpqua Bank, Chad Harvey, principal broker at Harvey Realty Group, and Justin Wood, vice president of Fish Construction NW. Oregon Speaker of the House Tina Kotek (N/NE Portland) and two members of the House Interim Committee On Human Services and Housing, Chair Alissa Keny-Guyer (NE/SE Portland) and Vice-Chair Ron Noble (McMinnville) concluded the program with a discussion about recent housing-related legislation and their views about addressing Oregon’s housing affordability and availability challenges. The representatives fielded audience comments and questions from various industry perspectives.
The Summit succeeded in bringing together key stakeholders for a collaborative and productive dialogue about the challenges and potential solutions to housing affordability and availability in Oregon. The three industry groups plan to hold next year’s Oregon Housing Economic Summit in Salem on January 14, 2021. More information will be available at https://oregonhousingeconomicsummit.com.