SB 1567 – Authorizes the Housing and Community Services Department to fund mixed income housing. Requires the department to develop a mixed income housing loan program. Establishes the Mixed Income Development Loan Fund for such purposes. Requires the department to adopt initial program rules by January 1, 2027.
RETURN TO FULL WAYS AND MEANS
CONTACT ALL LEGISLATORS FOR VOTE IN BOTH HOUSES
Eligibility criteria for these loans are to be established by the department through program rules, including who is eligible. This allows an agency to make laws in which the public is not represented – a violation of the Chevron case. There might be value to the bill if it were more transparent.
It also provides for on going appropriations, costing taxpayer every time they need a bailout. The bill needs safe guards.
Key points include:
- Mixed income housing is defined as multifamily housing with both market-rate and low-income units.
- The Housing and Community Services Department must create a loan program for mixed income housing development.
- The department will establish rules for eligibility, interest rates, affordability requirements, and affordable housing covenants.
- Loans can be subordinate to private loans and must be repaid into the Mixed Income Development Loan Fund.
- The fund is established in the State Treasury and includes moneys from loans, appropriations, bonds, and other sources.
- The department must adopt initial rules by January 1, 2027.
- Amendments to ORS 456.550, 456.612, and 456.620 emphasize the state’s policy to support affordable housing, including mixed income projects, and clarify the department’s role in financing and regulating such developments.
EFFECT OF AMENDMENT -1
Would require any loans made through the program to be subordinate to any existing or concurrently made loans on the property, unless the private lenders agree otherwise.
The B amendment transfers $20 million from the Housing Project Revolving Loan Fund to the Mixed Income Development Loan Fund established in section 3 of the measure.