Metro's Jordan Nominated to be Oregon's First Chief Operating Officer.

"News" from Metro is HERE.

Editorial Comment: I hope to be proven wrong in the future, but to date on affordable housing issues, including minority housing issues, I have not found Jordan to be an advocate, at either Metro or while he served on the Oregon Progress Board.

Originally created and posted on the Oregon Housing Blog.

Western States: Oregon Had Biggest Decline in Housing Bonds from 2008-2009.

Bond Buyer has interesting story on 2009-2008 changes in use of municipal bonds in Western states HERE.

A comprehensive breakout by state is linked within the story and can be found HERE.(Oregon details are on page 5).

I took the state breakout and did a further breakout by state of just housing bonds.

In my summary HERE you will see that Oregon had the LARGEST decline in use of housing bonds of any Western state, a decline of 85.6%. (Washington state had a decline of only 11.3%, and California's decline was close to, but less than Oregon's, at 80.9%.

Originally created and posted on the Oregon Housing Blog.

Recovery Act Mapping--Not Much That Impresses.

Frankly, I haven't seen any Recovery Act mapping sites that have really wowed me.

The new O'Reilly Radar article HERE includes some links to lots of different Recovery Act mapping sites, maybe there is a site within that could serve as a benchmark; if you see one don't hesitate to call it out in a comment on this post.

HUD's joint effort with USDA HERE leaves a lot to be desired--while project level Section 8 Recovery Act dollars are included, you can't readily download any of the underlying data.

Oregon's Recovery Act mapping HERE also does not include any data download option, housing data is completely missing, data is only available at the county level, and you have to do a lot of drilling down find actual data for specific programs.

Originally created and posted on the Oregon Housing Blog.

Joint Oregon Senate and House Revenue and Finance Committee Meeting Nov. 19th. to Include Housing Topics.

Have added this Wednesday Nov. 19th. item to blog calendar at bottom of page, includes room number.

December economic and revenue forecast is first item on agenda at 8:30 AM.

Housing to follow from 10-11 A.M.Housing topics:

• Update on Use of Affordable Housing Lenders Credit
• Implications of Recent Federal Actions
• 2009 Issues

PDF of agenda is HERE.

Lake Oswego Senior Project on Hold After LUBA Decision.

From Oregonian today:

"A planned 45-unit development for low-income seniors in Lake Oswego is on hold after the state Land Use Board of Appeals ruled the city improperly applied its code when granting the nonprofit developer a conditional use permit.

The city erroneously assumed that age alone is a disability in granting the permit, the land use board ruled. Developers intended the project to house low-income seniors 62 or older.The Waluga Neighborhood Association filed the appeal after city councilors in January unanimously upheld a lower body's decision to grant the permit.

Land use board members ruled in favor of the city on four other points. Waluga had argued the development did not meet the approval criteria for a conditional use permit; that the city committed a procedural error; that a flawed parking study was used; and that the city failed to require a traffic study.

Lake Oswego staff members will meet Monday to discuss their options, said Evan Boone, deputy city attorney.Both sides could appeal the decision.

The nonprofit Northwest Housing Alternatives would have developed the four-story building at 4255 Oakridge Road on behalf of nearby Lake Grove Presbyterian Church.Martha McLennan, executive director of Northwest Housing Alternatives, could not be reached for comment Thursday afternoon. "

Lake Oswego Review story on same decision HERE.

(I couldn't yet find an opinion or order on the LUBA website HERE).