ProPublica reported that Oregon Housing and Community Services director Andrea Bell did not name her husband's employer, the affordable-housing consulting firm JH Brawner, on her state ethics disclosures until Sept. 23, the day ProPublica asked about it. The firm consulted on two Portland-area housing authority projects seeking state money from her agency: Park Place, a 200-unit Clackamas County project with $36 million in state funding, and Aloha 209th in Washington County, awaiting a $17.5 million subsidy. Bell said in a statement that she took the concerns "seriously" and had sought an advisory opinion from the Oregon Government Ethics Commission; three former officials familiar with state ethics law told ProPublica the lack of disclosure "merited review."
Bell filed amended economic-interest disclosures for the last three years on Sept. 23, 2026; OHCS has distributed more than $1.4 billion in state funding for rent-restricted apartments over the past five years.
KATU · on housing production claims in the first Kotek–Drazan debate
Gov. Tina Kotek and Republican challenger Christine Drazan met Thursday night at the University of Oregon in Eugene for the first debate of the 2026 governor's race. Kotek said Oregon's housing starts were up 11.5% comparing the first six months of this year to the same period last year and credited permitting and infrastructure changes; Drazan called Kotek's housing policies "an abysmal failure" and said the state had "almost 10-year record lows in housing production." KATU noted Kotek secured $200 million from lawmakers in 2023 for homelessness and housing.
The election is Nov. 3, 2026; the debate was hosted by KVAL with the Oregon Journalism Project, Lookout Eugene-Springfield and the UO School of Journalism and Communication.
The Uptown Connect development at Albuquerque's Uptown transit hub secured $31.2 million in new financing: $23.8 million in private activity bonds approved by the New Mexico State Board of Finance on Sept. 15 and $7.4 million in loans approved by the Housing New Mexico Mortgage Finance Authority board on Sept. 16. The Bernalillo County Commission on Sept. 22 unanimously approved up to $23.8 million in project revenue bonds plus a 17-year property tax exemption. The project has been scaled back to 198 apartments, 176 of them affordable, at a cost of about $111 million; the county expects construction to begin in the first quarter of 2027.
City Desk reported in September 2025 that the project was expected to cost about $120 million with 239 apartments, and the county had previously authorized $46 million in revenue bonds.
Idaho Statesman · on New Path II, a 95-unit permanent supportive housing building
New Path II, the city-sponsored expansion of Boise's New Path permanent supportive housing development west of downtown, opened this week with 95 units for people exiting homelessness, joining the original 40-unit building. The project was financed with two types of federal low-income housing tax credits plus $5.5 million in American Rescue Plan Act money routed through the city. The Statesman reported that New Path I produced about $11.1 million in savings and cost avoidance over its first six years, and that the U.S. Treasury in 2024 promised Boise up to $6.6 million if it can show the housing-first approach reduces health and judicial costs.
Boise's most recent point-in-time count found 772 people experiencing homelessness in January 2025, of whom 126 were unsheltered.
Tax Credit Advisor · on the ROAD to Housing Act's new CDBG new-construction authority
The 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act (Public Law 119-101, enacted July 11) made new home construction an eligible CDBG use, capped at 20 percent of each recipient's annual allocation for awards issued in FY2027 and beyond. A Tax Credit Advisor analysis of FY2026 allocations ($3.298 billion across 1,302 awards) put the theoretical ceiling at $659.6 million, with a median of $178,796 per recipient. HUD had not published implementation guidance as of publication.
The 50 largest CDBG grantees received 44 percent of FY2026 allocated funding.
Qualcomm co-founder Irwin Jacobs announced a $50 million gift to Father Joe’s Villages, the largest in the organization’s history, toward a three-building, 18-story complex at Imperial Avenue and 15th Street expected to cost about $350 million and break ground in 2028. Developer Arete Development said the Joan and Irwin Jacobs Family Campus would have more than 500 affordable units, including 150 for older adults and 77 for transitional housing. The project has a little more than 14% of its funding secured; Mayor Todd Gloria said the city would consider a request for funds and Supervisor Paloma Aguirre said it was too early to say whether she would seek county money.
The project requires demolishing the Joan Kroc Center; KPBS reported its residents would be moved to Father Joe’s Fifth Avenue and Ash Street facility in early 2028, with a targeted completion in 2032.
USDA and HUD signed a memorandum of understanding required by Section 802 of the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act to evaluate environmental-review categorical exclusions, designate a lead agency for jointly funded projects’ environmental documents, and study a joint physical inspection process. The release said USDA Rural Development invested more than $42 billion in FY2025 across housing, community facilities, water, broadband and business programs, and named HUD as lead for interagency coordination. Coordination leads are Rural Housing Service Administrator George Kelly for USDA and Chief of Staff Drew McCall and Deputy Chief of Staff Reid Wilson for HUD.
Section 802, the Streamlining Rural Housing Act, became law on July 11, 2026 as part of Public Law 119-101.
The Pierce County Council voted unanimously Tuesday to award about $11.4 million from the county’s 0.1% housing sales tax to five projects, including $4.9 million for the 113-unit Fairway at DuPont and $3.5 million for the Low Income Housing Institute’s 73-unit Lincoln Family Housing in Tacoma, which sets aside 18 units for homeless households. Eleven applications had sought $35.8 million; unfunded proposals included LIHI’s Aspen Court conversion of a former Comfort Inn into permanent supportive housing. The county said 1,545 affordable homes have been built or preserved since the tax took effect.
The 0.1% sales tax was passed in 2023; the county has projected it needs more than 100,000 new units by 2044, about 77,000 of them for low-income households.
King County Executive Girmay Zahilay transmitted a $746 million supplemental budget to the County Council on September 24, amending the 2026-2027 budget adopted last November. It carries the $19.5 million package for 612 shelter and affordable-housing units announced September 21, $4.4 million to extend the Salvation Army SODO Shelter lease through 2027 (over 200 beds), and $4.2 million for contract and audit oversight in the Department of Community and Human Services. The release said the General Fund faces a $120 million shortfall in 2028-2029 and that the proposal includes $15.4 million in General Fund savings.
Council Budget Chair Rod Dembowski said the council intends to adopt the budget before Thanksgiving.
Metro opened applications for its Housing Production Accelerator Fund, which gives local governments grants and technical assistance for pre-development work such as permit review support, feasibility studies, environmental site assessments and regulatory updates. The fund is backed by a one-time $5 million investment from regional construction excise tax reserves and addresses four of the 16 actions in Metro's Regional Housing Coordination Strategy. Applications are reviewed and awarded on a rolling basis.
Metro Council President Juan Carlos González said creating the fund was the Council's first vote of 2026.
The Washington State Department of Commerce awarded Ridgefield a $70,000 grant to speed up residential building-permit review; the city will work with a software vendor to identify and implement improvements. Commerce announced $475,000 in grants across eight local governments on Thursday, including Tacoma, Bellevue, Lacey, Tumwater, Yakima, Pierce County and the Snohomish County Health Department.
Metro · on Habitat for Humanity's 50-home True North development in University Park
Habitat for Humanity Portland Region is developing True North, a 50-home affordable homeownership community of two-, three- and four-bedroom townhomes in North Portland's University Park neighborhood, funded in part by the Metro Affordable Housing Bond along with Interstate Corridor tax increment financing, LIFT for Homeownership and congressional community project funding. Sales will prioritize low-income buyers with historic ties to the area under Portland's N/NE Preference Policy.
Metro says vertical construction is slated to begin in spring 2027, with the first homes completed in 2028.
Portland.gov · on the Inner Eastside Zoning Project comment period
The Bureau of Planning and Sustainability opened an online questionnaire asking residents about priorities for housing, historic preservation and neighborhood business locations ahead of rezoning proposals for inner Northeast and Southeast Portland neighborhoods, where the bureau said zoning has mostly allowed only lower-density housing since the 1980s. The questionnaire is open through November 1, with drop-in events September 26 and October 2 and an online session October 7.
The bureau said the fall feedback will inform zoning concepts to be available for public review in spring 2027.
The Vancouver City Council on September 14 approved spending $9.5 million from the city's Affordable Housing Fund on seven projects totaling about 400 units for seniors, families, people with disabilities and people exiting homelessness, according to a staff report. Awards include $3 million to preserve Smith Tower, $3 million to a 51-unit Vancouver Housing Authority senior project, and $1.5 million to Community Roots for a 24-unit permanent supportive housing development on East Mill Plain Boulevard. City officials also moved $2 million from rental assistance into production and preservation, saying rental assistance funds had been spent more slowly than anticipated.
Only one Vancouver project has received money from the state Housing Trust Fund in the past two years, which The Columbian reports has stalled about 560 planned affordable units.
Westside Current · on the Homes for LA Round 2 affordable-housing funding round
The Los Angeles City Council voted 13-0 Tuesday to authorize the Los Angeles Housing Department, subject to mayoral approval, to release the Homes for LA Round 2 regulations and open a $466.6 million affordable-housing funding round, led by $324.1 million from Measure ULA revenue. Housing Committee chair Imelda Padilla spoke in support of new quarterly oversight requirements attached to the round.
The $466.6 million round opens only after mayoral approval of the released regulations; no money is awarded by the vote itself.
NLIHC published an analysis of National Housing Preservation Database summary data showing that Low-Income Housing Tax Credit units account for more than half of federally assisted rental homes in 25 states and the District of Columbia. The database's count of federally assisted homes spans Section 8 contracts, public housing, LIHTC, project-based vouchers, USDA programs, and the national Housing Trust Fund, among others.
The figures come from the NHPD's August 2026 summary reporting.
The Jacksonville City Council approved a $2 billion budget Tuesday by an 18-1 vote, reversing the Finance Committee's August move to strike a new $4.9 million affordable housing trust fund; Council member Matt Carlucci's restoration amendment passed 12-7. The trust fund includes $2 million for down payment assistance, $1.4 million for capital stack funding and $1.5 million for attainable housing utility tap fees. An amendment to restore $500,000 held back from United Way eviction diversion failed, leaving that program at half its city funding.
If Florida voters approve the Amendment 3 homestead property tax cut on November 3, the held-back contingency money goes to reserves against a projected $300 million revenue shortfall by 2028.
Urban Milwaukee · on the Phoenix Residential Apartments opening in Milwaukee
KG Development Group opened Phoenix Residential Apartments, a 31-unit affordable housing development in a redeveloped former Jewish Home in Milwaukee's Uptown neighborhood, with a ribbon-cutting Monday. Milwaukee County provided approximately $1.3 million toward the approximately $9 million redevelopment; the county Housing Division will lease 10 crisis-stabilization units and attach housing vouchers to eight of the units. Developer Anthony Kazee said the project required 13 different sources of financing, with Bader Philanthropies providing the final gap funding.
Milwaukee County has funded affordable housing developments in nine suburbs under County Executive David Crowley's administration.
Gov. Tina Kotek released a reelection platform, "Building Oregon's Future Together," organized around affordability, the economy, K-12 schools and defending the state against federal policies. On affordability, she pledged to pursue universal preschool statewide and to continue her effort to increase affordable housing options; OPB reported the plan does not detail how she would pay for those initiatives. The platform lists an increase in new housing starts among her first-term accomplishments, while OPB noted Oregon is on track to build less housing this year than when Kotek took office.
Republican challenger Christine Drazan released her own plan in late August.
Father Joe's Villages opened single-occupancy units at its downtown San Diego campus for people leaving homelessness, renting at $842 per month with shared bathrooms, kitchen and lounge. President and CEO Jim Vargas said tenants are coming from shelters and from street homelessness and will have access to the organization's meals, health clinic and job center. Move-ins began the week of September 21 and will continue through early November.
UC San Diego researchers counted 110 single-occupancy hotels downtown in 2002 and 35 by 2023.
The Atlanta Regional Commission completed the final draft of its Housing Forward 2035 plan, which estimates the 11-county metro region needs more than 360,000 new homes by 2035. The ARC reported that half of all renters in the metro area are cost-burdened, along with a quarter of homeowners, and said the strategy targets building near employment centers and transit for families earning $55,000 a year or less. The commission expects a final vote on the plan in January.
The outlet's headline says 300K; the article's own estimate is more than 360,000 homes by 2035.
The Oregon Court of Appeals ruled September 16 that the affordable-housing exemption from prevailing-wage requirements applies to projects that convert existing buildings, reversing a Bureau of Labor and Industries determination against developer DevNW's 17-unit church conversion in Salem. DevNW's CEO said BOLI's determination added about $50,000 per unit, a 13% increase in overall costs. The ruling is not retroactive, and BOLI declined to comment on whether it will appeal.
BOLI told DevNW in an Aug. 30, 2022 letter that the project did not qualify because it involved renovating a church rather than an apartment building or single-family home.
Longtime residents of older Clark County neighborhoods told the county that cars from new small-lot developments are taking up their on-street parking. The county is considering reducing parking minimums, and eliminating them for affordable housing, senior housing and homes smaller than 1,200 square feet.
Union Tower, a 94-unit affordable housing complex built by Wakeland Housing in National City that opened in May 2026, has placed 24 veterans who were experiencing homelessness into housing. The complex replaced 32 older units on the site and serves households earning between 30 and 60 percent of the area median income.
The Portland Housing Bureau announced conditional awards for two projects on land-banked sites expected to produce 106 affordable homes in total. Mt. Tabor Annex Townhomes at 511 SE 60th Ave. would build 24 townhomes for purchase with $4.3 million in Metro Affordable Housing Bond funds, and Cornerstone at Gateway at 10226 E Burnside St. would build 82 one- and two-bedroom rental homes with $8 million in Gateway TIF funding. The bureau said the Mt. Tabor award brings Metro Bond-funded units in Portland to 2,177, exceeding the city's initial goal by 48%.
The Mt. Tabor award is conditional pending Metro concept endorsement; Cornerstone at Gateway proceeds through a development agreement.
The Mayor's Office of Housing and Community Development projected its annual capacity dropping from roughly $330 million supporting 20 projects this fiscal year to about $130 million supporting seven projects in 2027–28, with the next housing bond not scheduled until 2034. Proposition C on the November ballot would raise the Affordable Housing Trust Fund's $50 million annual cap to about $125 million, and Proposition I would dedicate $125 million in taxes on high-end property sales to non-market housing. 48 Hills reported more than 12,000 affordable homes are in the pipeline awaiting funding.
More than $1 billion in affordable-housing bond money approved over the past ten years built almost 5,000 units and funded roughly 2,000 more now coming online.
Rep. Pam Marsh, chair of the House Committee on Housing and Homelessness, and Sen. Khanh Pham, chair of the Senate Committee on Housing and Development, said they plan to introduce legislation in the 2027 session to eliminate a 1997 public records exemption that lets Oregon Housing and Community Services withhold financial details of subsidized housing projects. The agency cited the law in redacting sections of developers' cost reports that ProPublica requested in May. ProPublica's August investigation reported that Oregon has given developers $1.4 billion since 2021, that per-unit development costs have nearly doubled to $540,000, and that $850 million in future state funding is lined up.
Oregon's Sunshine Committee, the state body that reviews records exemptions, is separately examining the 1997 exemption.
The political committee Affordable Housing for Clark County announced a campaign to pass Charter Amendment 24, on the November ballot, which would require the county to publish a Housing Impact Analysis before adopting land-use and construction code changes affecting residential housing. The campaign cited an estimated 15,700-unit county housing deficit and projections requiring roughly 4,767 homes per year through 2045, against a past-decade average of about 3,895 units annually. Charter Review Commissioner John Jay, the amendment's sponsor, said the goal is to give the County Council "all the tools they need to assess the viability of future regulations."
The amendment does not limit the County Council's authority to adopt regulations; it requires the analysis to be published before the public hearing on a qualifying proposal.
Supervisor Myrna Melgar announced plans for legislation creating a Department of Housing Development and Preservation, consolidating housing functions now spread across the mayor's office into one agency modeled on New York City's counterpart, alongside a co-op ownership program. Melgar said she wants "one agency where the planning, financing and policy around housing is coordinated"; the city attorney's office is still drafting both pieces of legislation.
San Francisco has some 1,600 co-op units, most built between the 1960s and 1980s in the Fillmore, Bayview and Diamond Heights neighborhoods.
The New York City Council approved John Mangin, a Department of City Planning official and an architect of the 2024 "City of Yes for Housing" plan, to chair the Board of Standards and Appeals by a vote of 40 in favor, six against and four abstentions. The board interprets the city's zoning rules and decides whether to grant exceptions to developers whose projects do not conform to them.
New York City's rental vacancy rate is 1.4 percent, the lowest in nearly sixty years.
A 127-unit affordable building on DeKalb Avenue in Bushwick opened with 45 units reserved for families who were formerly homeless, young families and young women who are pregnant. The building, a collaboration between Camber Property Group and RiseBoro Community Partnership, provides free social services to its supportive-housing tenants and ranges from studios to three-bedroom units.
Portland Bureau of Planning and Sustainability · on the Central City Code Amendments' first council hearing, set for Oct. 6
The Bureau of Planning and Sustainability said city staff have published the Recommended Draft of the Central City Code Amendments, incorporating the Planning Commission's amendments, ahead of the first City Council hearing. The council's Housing and Permitting Committee will hold a public hearing on the Recommended Draft on Tuesday, Oct. 6 at 2 p.m. The Planning Commission completed its review in July and voted to recommend approval of the Proposed Draft as amended.
Oral testimony registration for the Oct. 6 hearing opens Oct. 1 at 9 a.m., and the same committee hearing will also take up the State Land Use Compliance Project's Recommended Draft, due to be published by Sept. 22.
Detroit reopened applications for its Critical Home Repair and Detroit LeadSafe Housing programs, with a single application window running September 9 through September 22. Mayor Mary Sheffield signed an executive order on September 8 appointing Heather Zygmontowicz to lead a citywide home repair effort, including an annual home repair census for at least five consecutive years. Income caps for a three-person household are $56,640 for Critical Home Repair and $75,500 for LeadSafe.
Legin Commons, a 124-unit affordable housing development co-developed by Our Just Future and APANO on the edge of Portland Community College's Southeast Campus in the Jade District, held its grand opening September 10. The project is partially funded by the voter-approved Metro Affordable Housing Bond and is named for the Legin Restaurant, demolished in 2012 for the campus expansion. APANO said the complex is still accepting applications and expects some tenants to begin moving in within the next two weeks.
PCC designated the underused 1.6-acre parcel for affordable housing in 2021 and signed a ground lease with Our Just Future to make the property available for development.
City of Boston · on a 126-unit downtown Boston tower with 70 units for people exiting homelessness
Mayor Michelle Wu, Lt. Gov. Kim Driscoll, and Auxiliary Bishop Robert F. Hennessey joined St. Francis House and the Planning Office for Urban Affairs to open 41 LaGrange Street, a 19-story, all-electric Passive House tower in downtown Boston with 126 income-restricted rental homes. Of the 126 apartments, 70 are dedicated to individuals exiting homelessness, who will receive wraparound services through St. Francis House, and 56 serve workforce, middle-, and low-income households. The building was constructed on a former surface parking lot.
The city said Boston has created 668 permanent supportive housing units since Mayor Wu took office.
Evergreen Habitat for Humanity is expected to close this month on the purchase of the Hidden Village 1 and 2 manufactured home parks in Hazel Dell, north of Vancouver, for $12 million total — $8 million from the Washington State Department of Commerce and $4 million from private donations. The nonprofit plans to renovate many of the roughly 60 mobile homes on the 19-acre site and potentially build additional affordable housing on the undeveloped land, with homeowners holding 99-year land leases. The organization said it is its largest project to date.
The Clark County Council holds a September 14 public meeting on strategies to preserve mobile home parks as part of the revision of the county's 20-year growth plan.
The Portland Housing Bureau put temporary administrative rules for the Affordable Housing SDC Exemption Program into effect September 8 and released draft permanent rules for public comment. The bureau said the updates implement City Council code changes adopted July 29, 2026 through Ordinance 192210, expanding the rules to include rental units and strengthening enforcement provisions. A hybrid public hearing is set for October 20 from 10–11 a.m., with written testimony due October 23.
The underlying code change was adopted by City Council on July 29, 2026 through Ordinance 192210.
The National Low Income Housing Coalition published the March 2026 edition of its annual report, "The Gap: A Shortage of Affordable Homes." The report counts rental homes affordable to the lowest-income renters and compares that supply against the number of such households. Extremely low-income households, it reports, account for nearly one fourth of the nation's 46 million renter households. Nationally, 7.2 million rental units are affordable to the 11 million extremely low-income renter households, but 3.4 million of those units are occupied by higher-income households, leaving 3.8 million units both affordable and available — a shortage of 7.2 million homes, or 35 affordable and available homes per 100 extremely low-income renter households. The figure cited in yesterday's edition via the AP, roughly 4 million affordable units available for 11 million households, corresponds to the report's 3.8 million affordable-and-available count.
The analysis is based on the 2024 American Community Survey Public Use Microdata Sample, an annual Census Bureau survey of approximately 3.5 million addresses. "Extremely low-income" means a household income at or below the federal poverty guideline or 30% of area median income, whichever is higher — a threshold that varies by geography. "Affordable" means rent and utilities that do not exceed 30% of a given income threshold, and units are categorized by the income needed to afford them without regard to the incomes of current tenants. The report's operative measure is "affordable and available": units that are affordable at an income level and either vacant or not occupied by a higher-income household. That distinction is what separates the 7.2 million units affordable to extremely low-income renters from the 3.8 million actually open to them. Units without complete kitchens or plumbing are excluded from the supply count.
The shortage corresponds to high housing cost burdens for this group. Per the report, 87% of extremely low-income renter households spend more than 30% of income on rent and utilities, and 74% spend more than half. Extremely low-income households account for 68% of all severely cost-burdened renters while making up about a quarter of renter households.
Across recent editions the headline figures have moved within a narrow band. The March 2024 edition, based on 2022 data, reported a shortage of 7.3 million homes and 34 affordable and available homes per 100 extremely low-income households; the March 2025 edition, based on 2023 data, reported 10.9 million extremely low-income households, a shortage of 7.1 million, and a ratio of 35; the current edition reports 7.2 million and 35. The national ratio spans wide state variation: from 16 affordable and available homes per 100 extremely low-income renter households in Nevada to 73 in South Dakota, with no state reaching parity.
The headline number is a count of rental homes relative to households, and the report states several things it does not capture. The ACS is a survey of addresses and does not include people experiencing homelessness; the report calls its own shortage figure understated on that basis, noting that 771,480 people were counted homeless on a single night in 2024 and that including their housing needs would raise the shortage to nearly 7.8 million. It also cites an outside estimate of 3.7 million individuals in doubled-up situations whose needs are not in its figures. The measure is affordability at fixed income thresholds, not housing condition — units lacking complete kitchens or plumbing are dropped from supply, but physical adequacy is not otherwise assessed — and the report notes that a residual-income approach would classify more households as burdened than the 30%-of-income standard it uses.
NLIHC's March 2025 edition of The Gap, based on 2023 data, reported a shortage of 7.1 million affordable and available rental homes for 10.9 million extremely low-income renter households.
The Portland City Council voted 12–0 Thursday to approve beginning negotiations with Albina Vision Trust, a Black-led redevelopment nonprofit, over city-owned property next to the Moda Center that currently consists of two parking lots. The trust's master plan calls for housing, commercial storefronts, public plazas and riverfront access across a 94-acre section of Lower Albina; executive director Winta Yohannes and Black business owners and developers testified in support before the vote.
The vote comes as Trail Blazers owner Tom Dundon seeks nearly $600 million in public funding for a Moda Center renovation, with a binding council vote on the arena deal expected in December 2026.
Associated Press · on Portland affordable-unit vacancies amid a shortage for the lowest-income renters
The AP reported, in a story datelined Portland, that units priced for renters at 60–80% of area median income are sitting vacant in several cities while the lowest-income renters cannot find housing. The Portland Housing Bureau counted more than 1,700 vacant affordable units in the city, an overall vacancy rate of 7.5%, most of them priced for renters at 60% of area median income. The National Low Income Housing Coalition counts about 4 million affordable rental units available for the country's 11 million extremely low-income renter households.
The article puts a healthy vacancy rate at around 5%.
The Atlanta Regional Commission unveiled Housing Forward 2035, the first regional housing plan for the 11-county Atlanta area, setting a target of 367,000 new homes by 2035 and calling for a four-fold increase in affordable home production for households earning under $55,000 a year. The plan cites a shortage of more than 200,000 affordable homes for lower-income households and calls for preserving 104,000 existing affordable units at risk of loss; the commission lacks zoning authority, so the plan depends on voluntary adoption by member governments.
ARC's analysis found current market trends on track to meet 25% of housing demand from households earning less than $55,000 a year; formal adoption is expected in late 2026 or early 2027.
HUD published the FY2026 Housing Trust Fund formula allocations, totaling $255,516,650.92 across the 50 states, D.C., Puerto Rico, and four territories. California received the largest allocation at $28.2 million, followed by New York and Texas, with most small states receiving the $3.3 million minimum. The notice makes the Virgin Islands' allocation subject to the suspension of the Virgin Islands Housing Finance Authority.
The FY2025 allocation notice, published December 8, 2025, totaled $223,024,239.90.
San Diego opened a $15 million eighth round of its Bridge to Home affordable-housing fund, composed of $10 million in former redevelopment dollars restricted to site work and construction and $5 million from the state Permanent Local Housing Allocation program. Since 2021 the program has committed more than $120 million toward 2,969 units across 30 projects; eight of those projects have finished construction, delivering 676 completed homes. Developer applications are due October 19.
Of the 676 completed homes, 156 units are paired with supportive services for residents experiencing or at risk of homelessness.
Denver City Council's Community Planning and Housing Committee voted Tuesday, September 1, to advance a one-year continuation of the Department of Housing Stability's housing and homelessness strategy through 2027, sending it to the full council for adoption. The 2027 targets include developing at least 930 housing units, preserving at least 490 income-restricted apartments, sheltering at least 12,000 unique households, and reducing overall homelessness by 30% compared with 2024. Committee members asked HOST for more detailed eviction, funding, racial-equity and family-homelessness data.
HOST's citywide Housing Needs Assessment is expected by December 2026, with the next long-range strategy due September 1, 2027.
The first prefabricated unit of a 14-unit low-income rental complex arrived in West Altadena, trucked roughly 70 miles from Perris, to replace courtyard apartments on East Pine Street destroyed in the Eaton Fire. The Altadena Builds Back Foundation helped assemble nearly $6 million for the project, drawing on donations to the Pasadena Community Foundation and philanthropist Molly Munger. A lottery will be held in October to decide who the units will be offered to.
A survey conducted last year by the Eaton Fire Collaborative found that 72% of Altadena renters are still in need of housing.
The Oregonian/OregonLive · on Oregon's rise to 12th most expensive state
The Oregonian reported that Oregon is now the nation's 12th most expensive state in an annual federal survey of housing, utility and retail costs, with Portland, Corvallis and Bend ranking among the most expensive metro areas in the country. The paper attributed the rise in housing costs to the state's failure to add new homes as the population grew during the 2010s; housing costs in the Portland area are 25% higher than the national average.
Integral Care, Travis County's mental health authority, opened Seabrook Square II, a permanent supportive housing community for 60 people who have experienced chronic homelessness. Fourteen residents moved in the week of August 17, with additional residents arriving in waves of about 15. Rent is capped at 30% of income, or $0 for residents with none, under a standard Texas lease.
Travis County officials counted 3,238 people experiencing homelessness this year, a 36% increase from 2023.
OPB · on the "Drazan Plan" campaign agenda rollout
Republican gubernatorial nominee Christine Drazan held a press conference at Terry Schrunk Plaza in downtown Portland on August 25 to elaborate on the "Drazan Plan," her agenda if elected governor. On housing, she promised to streamline permitting and make land more available for building; on homelessness, she said she would track how money is spent and demand measurable results, saying success should be measured "by how many people are actually moving off of our streets that are in recovery, in treatment and moving towards long-term stability." Gov. Tina Kotek's campaign called the plan "simply her latest effort to distract Oregonians from her history of being Donald Trump's stand-in."
It has been more than four decades since Oregonians elected a Republican governor; Drazan and Kotek also faced each other in the 2022 gubernatorial race.
The Vancouver City Council on Monday approved a land disposition and development agreement with Vancouver Heights Senior Housing Partners for a 51-unit senior building in the Heights District, for residents 55 and older earning 30 to 60 percent of area median income. The project will cost $26.7 million total, roughly $524,000 per unit, with the city investing about $2.8 million including $2 million from its Affordable Housing Fund. The terms set a 99-year ground lease and require the units to stay affordable for at least 40 years, with construction to begin around July 2028 and finish around July 2030.
The council approved the companion 80-unit family building's disposition and development agreement on October 13, 2025; the two buildings total 131 affordable units on the former Tower Mall site.
Voice of San Diego · on Del Mar Fairgrounds board termination of an affordable-housing agreement
The board that runs the Del Mar Fairgrounds voted 5-3 on August 18 to terminate the exclusive negotiating agreement it signed in 2024 with the city of Del Mar to locate part of an affordable housing project on Fairgrounds land now occupied by an RV park. Board members cited economic and political uncertainties and what they called "animosity" surrounding the project.
On August 5, the Del Mar City Council demanded an investigation into California Attorney General Rob Bonta and a Fairgrounds board member over whether ties to a rival project's developer biased them against the Fairgrounds project.
The Oregonian · on Helmi Hisserich named ROSE Community Development executive director
Helmi Hisserich, former director of the Portland Housing Bureau, will start August 31 as executive director of ROSE Community Development Corp., a Portland affordable housing nonprofit founded in 1992 that has developed about 600 homes. Hisserich resigned from the Housing Bureau last November in exchange for a $240,880 severance.
Portland City Council's April 2025 resolution directed the social housing study Hisserich championed; its final report is expected by the end of August 2026.
The San Diego City Council on Monday repealed 2022's Measure C, which had exempted the Midway District from the city's 30-foot coastal height limit until a judge invalidated the measure on environmental-review grounds; Councilmember Jennifer Campbell said the city had to comply or face contempt fines after the California Supreme Court declined to take the case. The repeal affects Midway Rising, the plan to redevelop the 48.5-acre Sports Arena property with a new arena and 4,254 apartments, 2,000 of them affordable to low-income renters; a bill from state Sen. Akilah Weber Pierson to shield the project from future environmental lawsuits needs two-thirds majorities in both chambers by August 31.
A similar Midway height-limit measure approved by voters in 2020 was also overturned in court; in both cases judges found the city had not analyzed the environmental impacts of taller buildings.
City Councilor Steve Novick said Portland's affordable housing sector risks falling apart unless government agencies change strategy, arguing that residents with untreated behavioral health issues and little support are a growing liability for the city's affordable housing supply.
KGW reported the same week that the city is converting the Multnomah Safe Rest Village into a shelter whose residents are expected to engage in treatment and counseling.
Shelterforce reported that the Portland City Council's April 2026 approval of an initial $17.5 million investment in social housing — part of a $56 million package drawn from previously unbudgeted housing funds — is letting the city pilot a revolving loan fund to acquire property for permanently affordable housing. The piece reports that the discovery of the unbudgeted funds raised questions about administration of the Portland Housing Bureau's roughly $244 million 2025–2026 budget.
The study ordered by an April 2025 council resolution is expected to release its final report by the end of August 2026.
Stateline reported that cities including Baltimore, Denver, Los Angeles, and Honolulu are deploying AI tools to flag incomplete housing-permit applications, with two new federal funding streams supporting the shift: the new federal housing law's Innovation Fund at $200 million annually and up to $3 million in HUD grants for automated permitting systems. Honolulu officials said AI pre-screening cut permit reviews from an average of 3.4 review cycles per application to 1.4 for single- and two-family residential projects, and applicants' average time in the process fell from 73 days to 32.5 days.
Denver's council approved a five-year AI plan-review contract in March for about $4.6 million, with a stated goal of raising first-round application acceptance from 37% to 80%.
Shelterforce reported on Portland's social housing pilot, funded by a $17.5 million council allocation in April 2026 as part of a $56 million package drawn from previously unbudgeted housing funds, which will seed a revolving loan fund to buy commercial properties for conversion to permanently affordable housing. Councilor Mitch Green told Shelterforce he is optimistic the money will be a downpayment on further policy change rather than a one-off experiment; Councilor Candace Avalos said the private market produces housing that is "grossly expensive and inaccessible" and that social housing can create "systems that last."
The council-ordered social housing study's final report and recommendations are expected by the end of August 2026.
An OPB/ProPublica investigation reported that Oregon has given affordable housing developers $1.4 billion while the cost of developing each apartment has nearly doubled to $540,000, and that a state public-records exemption keeps itemized project financial details secret. The reporting said dozens of projects are lined up for an additional $850 million in future state funding, and that California and Washington publish comparable financial records.
Researchers found California was spending $300 million a year in development fees on subsidized housing, enough to have financed another 1,250 apartments annually.
State Sen. Akilah Weber Pierson gutted and amended SB 344, a dormant bill on scattering ashes at sea, to declare the Midway Rising redevelopment's environmental impact report in full compliance with CEQA, shielding the project from legal challenges under that law. The bill, co-sponsored by Mayor Todd Gloria and three construction trades councils, carries an urgency clause and awaits a final Assembly reading before the legislative session ends August 31. The project plans 4,254 residential units on 49.2 acres, including 2,000 units for households at or below 80% of area median income.
A companion bill, SB 958, barring building-height impacts from counting as significant under CEQA, is also on the Assembly floor; the city-developer lease deal is expected before the council's Land Use & Housing Committee on October 8.
Gov. Tina Kotek pointed to an 11.3% increase in Oregon housing permits through June 30, as permitting in the rest of the country declined 1.3%, as evidence the state's housing decline is reversing. Willamette Week reported that permitting reached nearly 18,000 units in Kotek's first year, fell to fewer than 15,000 in each of the past two years, and remains below the 36,000-units-a-year target she set in her 2023 inaugural address, a target since lowered to 29,359 units.
The bipartisan California Big City Mayors coalition — including the mayors of San Diego, San Jose, San Francisco, Sacramento, Oakland, Fresno and Long Beach — voted unanimously Wednesday to endorse Proposition 1, the Veteran and Housing Assistance Programs Bond Measure on the November ballot. Officials said the bond could enable 40,000 new affordable homes, preserve more than 5,500 existing affordable residences and create over 53,000 construction jobs.
The measure goes before voters in the November 2026 election alongside the gubernatorial and congressional midterms.
Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson signed Executive Order 2026-4, directing an interdepartmental team across utilities and housing agencies to streamline permitting and creating a Housing Production Task Force to recommend policies on production and displacement. City data showed permit reviews averaging 374 days for large multifamily projects against a 180-day target, and 117 days for middle housing against a 60-day goal. The mayor's office said the task force will deliver a status update with policy recommendations no later than February 2027.
The Seattle Department of Construction & Inspections set the 180-day and 60-day review targets in October 2025 as part of a goal of halving construction permit review times.
Vancouver city staff told the city council Monday the city will rework its scoring and timeline for awarding federal housing and community development funds after none of the 100 new rental units, 50 rehabilitated rental units or 10 homeowner units in its 2024-2028 plan were completed with those funds. Staff said federal HOME funds went unused because Build America, Buy America construction requirements raised costs, pushing developers to the city's more flexible Affordable Housing Fund. The city expects about $1.7 million in community development funds, $1 million in housing funds and roughly $500,000 for homelessness programs in 2027, with applications opening October 1.
The council separately weighed changes to the voter-approved Affordable Housing Fund on August 11 that would roughly double per-unit subsidies.
Senators Amy Klobuchar and Kirsten Gillibrand and Representatives Dwight Evans and Brian Fitzpatrick reintroduced the bipartisan VITAL Act (S.5285/H.R.10049), which would reform the Low Income Housing Tax Credit to require that at least 40% of states' LIHTC units be disability adaptable and accessible, or at least 20% in walkable or rollable neighborhoods. The bill would also increase credits for accessible projects in walkable neighborhoods and raise the LIHTC annual state allocation.
Less than six percent of the nation's housing stock is accessible for people with mobility-related disabilities, per NLIHC.
A USC Lusk Center for Real Estate report found more than 10,200 accessory dwelling units were completed in Los Angeles County in 2025 — a record — accounting for 37% of the county's new housing. Overall county housing production fell more than 4% in 2025, to 27,293 new units from 28,498, and the county has produced fewer than 125,400 units since 2021 against a state-mandated goal of 812,000 new permitted units by 2029.
The LA County Board of Supervisors approved $3.8 million in state funding in March 2026 to support ADU production.
The Portland Housing Bureau announced the opening of 73Foster, a REACH CDC development on SE Foster Road with 63 units ranging from studios to three-bedrooms, of which 29 are family-sized and 22 are permanent supportive housing. The project was funded through the voter-approved Metro Affordable Housing Bond, with energy-efficiency features funded by the Portland Clean Energy Community Benefits Fund.
The bureau's Metro bond scorecard counts $211 million in bond spending producing affordable homes for more than 5,300 Portlanders to date.
HUD updated its program allocation spreadsheet to include 2026 National Housing Trust Fund state allocations of $255 million, up from $223 million in 2025, after the Office of Management and Budget had delayed their release. NLIHC reported the funds were released on August 3, following a June letter from Senator Jack Reed and other senators pressing OMB. The HTF amounts had previously been omitted from HUD's spreadsheet without explanation.
The HTF, established in 2008 and first funded with grants to states in 2016, is capitalized through Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac contributions rather than annual appropriations.
City Limits · on HPD's first-half 2026 affordable housing financing totals
New York City financed 12,491 affordable homes in the first six months of 2026 — 4,951 preserved units and 6,632 new units, plus 908 public housing units preserved through NYCHA's PACT program — the lowest half-year total since 2022. The city said more than half the units will serve extremely and very low-income households, and 2,000 were set aside for formerly homeless New Yorkers. Mamdani's housing plan requires financing 10,000 new and 10,000 preserved affordable units every six months to hit its 10-year targets.
The Adams administration financed 15,380 affordable units in its final half-year in office.
The San Francisco chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America is the group behind Proposition I, a ballot measure that would dedicate the city's transfer taxes on properties worth $10 million or more — nearly $120 million a year, per the City Controller — to a House SF Fund for affordable-housing programs. Mayor Daniel Lurie and the city's police and firefighters unions said the measure would create "an unaccountable slush fund."
The transfer tax had raised $504.6 million by February, about $200 million of which initially went to housing-related programs, according to advocates cited in the article.
The Portland Planning Commission voted unanimously on July 14 to send the Central City Code Amendments Project, a package of downtown zoning changes aimed at converting empty office space to housing, to City Council. Downtown office vacancy stood at 29.6% in the second quarter of 2026, according to a Kidder Mathews report. The current draft raises height limits for qualifying residential projects but contains no financial incentives.
A City Council vote on the package is expected this fall or winter.
Attorney Stuart Gross, representing three neighborhood associations, sent an August 11 letter to San Francisco's planning and public health directors threatening to sue if the 848-home Marina Safeway redevelopment — 86 affordable units in buildings up to 22 stories — proceeds through AB 2011 streamlined review before contamination testing is completed. The letter said more than 40,000 square feet beneath the operating store remains untested; Planning Director Sarah Dennis Phillips wrote last month that the project "satisfies the environmental site criteria outlined in AB2011."
A state Department of Toxic Substances Control representative cited 2023 testing that found petroleum in soil at up to 2,500 milligrams per kilogram, about twice the commercial screening threshold and 10 times the residential threshold.
A report from Boston's Office of Housing found more than 6,200 income-restricted units were built or under construction during Mayor Michelle Wu's first term, which the report called the highest production level in 25 years, and said the city has a higher share of subsidized housing than any peer among the nation's 15 largest markets. The city put much of its $560 million in pandemic-era relief funds into housing; officials said that aid expires by the end of the year, and the Office of Housing is exploring other funding sources.