OregonHB 21382025 Regular SessionHouseWALLET

Relating to land use; and declaring an emergency.

Sponsored By: Sponsor information unavailable

Signed by Governor

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Bill Overview

Analyzed Economic Effects

22 provisions identified: 15 benefits, 4 costs, 3 mixed.

Extra homes for affordability and accessibility

Cities must allow one extra unit for eligible duplexes or triplexes, and up to two for townhouses, quadplexes, or cottage clusters. At least one unit must meet Type A accessibility standards or qualify as affordable. Affordable units must meet annually published regional sales-price limits, serve households below 120% of median income, and carry a covenant lasting at least 10 years after occupancy. Cities must allow matching increases in building area, floor area, height, or density, and can offer larger bonuses. The requirement excludes urban unincorporated land outside Metro.

Owners can keep homes while adding housing

Cities that must allow middle housing must let qualifying lots retain an existing detached home, home with an accessory unit, or duplex. New siting and design rules can apply to added units, but not those existing homes. Covered existing homes can count together as one unit for a middle-housing land division and receive their own lot. Revised division rules cover added and rehabilitated units, with exceptions to the one-home-per-lot rule for common areas and specified homes with accessory units or duplexes. Building-code and land-use requirements still apply; separate utilities are required except for water and wastewater, and the retention requirement excludes urban unincorporated land outside Metro.

Private rules cannot block allowed housing

Beginning January 1, 2027, recorded rules inside urban growth boundaries cannot allow detached homes while banning middle housing or accessory units, including related land divisions. This covers documents executed before, on, or after January 1, 2021. Planned-community rules also cannot ban or unreasonably restrict housing allowed at maximum zoning density, regardless of adoption before, on, or after January 1, 2020. Resulting homes receive assessments and voting rights on the same basis as existing homes. A separate factory-built housing protection depends on House Bill 3144 becoming law: beginning January 1, 2027, it bars covered bans on manufactured homes or prefabricated structures in documents executed on or after January 1, 2026.

More neighborhoods must allow middle housing

Counties, cities with at least 25,000 people, and Metro cities with at least 1,000 must allow all middle-housing types. Outside Metro, cities with 2,500–24,999 people must allow duplexes; specified Tillamook County communities are covered regardless of population. Covered lots must be inside an urban growth boundary, zoned residential, and allow a detached home. Local design rules cannot discourage allowed housing through unreasonable costs or delays, though statewide planning protections remain allowed. Cities must adopt affordable and accessible middle-housing rules by January 1, 2027, and cottage-cluster changes by January 1, 2028.

More single-room housing with parking limits

By January 1, 2027, local governments must allow up to six single-room rental units on detached-home lots inside urban growth boundaries. On lots zoned for multiunit housing with five or more homes, they must allow up to three times the usual maximum density. Developments must have at least four independently rented, lockable units with living and sleeping space; bathrooms and cooking areas can be shared. Parking required per three rooms cannot exceed the requirement for one detached home in developments with six or fewer units, or one multiunit home in larger developments. The parking limit does not apply to residential care facilities.

Faster lot decisions but fewer appeals

Requested expedited land divisions require a decision within 63 days after a complete application, while applicable land-use standards still apply. Local governments cannot hold hearings or allow third parties to oppose these applications; only applicants can appeal, and only applicants must receive decision notices. Expedited divisions count as land-use decisions, and state land-use board review is available through the applicable procedures. People receiving adequate notice of covered no-hearing decisions cannot appeal to that board; inadequate notice allows 21 days after learning the decision's nature. Local governments can charge estimated average processing costs and must review those fees within one year against actual experience.

Applicants keep rights to challenge delays

Applicants can accept an approval condition without giving up the right to challenge it. Before a state land-use appeal or damages suit, they must preserve the issue and complete available local appeals. Court remedies for county delays now follow the applicable statutory decision period rather than fixed references to 120 or 150 days. City applicants can seek a court order compelling approval after the applicable statutory deadline, with the rule now covering applications generally.

Clearer rules for housing permit applicants

Covered local housing and related tree-removal rules must use clear, objective standards. This covers urban growth boundaries, qualifying unincorporated communities designated after December 5, 1994, nonresource lands, and rural residential zones. Exceptions remain for specified central-city and regional-center plans and designated historic areas. Ordinances subject to the clear-and-objective requirement must state those standards clearly in the ordinance itself.

Simpler applications for dividing housing lots

At an applicant's request, cities and counties must expedite middle-housing land divisions without applying the usual expedited-division eligibility criteria. Applicants can submit tentative plans before, after, or alongside building-permit applications, and local governments must provide a concurrent process for related divisions. Local governments can allow vacant parcels from a non-middle-housing partition to be divided again into no more than three parcels in the same calendar year. Related approvals remain subject to applicable city or county decision deadlines. The law also extends an exemption from certain land sale and lease requirements to additional middle-housing parcels.

Faster permits for qualifying industrial projects

Applicants can request expedited permits for new or expanded industrial uses in regionally significant industrial areas. Local governments must use expedited land-division procedures while applying the permit's usual substantive standards. Projects cannot require a statewide planning-goal exception, a local plan or rule change, or a federal environmental impact statement.

Faster decisions for affordable housing projects

Cities and counties must take final action on qualifying affordable housing applications within 100 days after they are complete. Projects must be inside an urban growth boundary and include at least five residential units. At least half the units must be affordable for households earning no more than 60% of the higher county or state median family income. The deadline no longer expressly includes resolving local appeals.

Faster land divisions for housing builders

Local governments must approve qualifying land divisions through an expedited process when applicants request it and explain how they qualify. The land must be residentially zoned, inside an urban growth boundary, and used only for housing and related recreation or open space. Divisions must meet street or right-of-way connection standards and exclude homes or accessory buildings from land mapped for natural-feature protection. Projects must allow at least 80% of the site's maximum permitted net housing density. Alternatively, the housing must be sold or rented to households earning below 120% of county median family income.

Faster reviews in locally planned areas

Local governments must use expedited procedures for land divisions and site or design reviews in areas with acknowledged refinement plans. These are approved plans providing more detailed guidance for an area. Reviews must still cover applicable planning rules, planned-development standards, development requirements, and facilities or services.

Fewer traffic costs for middle housing

Local governments generally cannot require traffic studies or extra traffic-related charges based on an individual middle-housing project's impacts. Generally applicable system development charges, fee-in-lieu variance charges, and requirements specific to the lot or its frontage remain allowed. The protection excludes townhouse and cottage-cluster projects with more than 12 units. It also excludes lots created through another type of land division during the previous five years.

More funding for middle housing support

The law increases Oregon's General Fund support for middle housing for the two-year budget period beginning July 1, 2025. The Department of Land Conservation and Development receives $2.391599 million more for planning, rulemaking and related work. It also receives $1.5 million more for technical assistance grants related to middle housing. These funds support housing work, not direct payments to households.

State must update housing development rules

Oregon's land-use commission must adopt housing development rules by January 1, 2028, emphasizing efficient approvals, housing production, and affordability. Rules cover middle housing, accessory units, single-room rentals, cottage clusters, discretionary review, optional model development charges, and estimates of zoned housing capacity. The commission must follow state housing principles and, where practical, recommendations from specified 2024 reports. By July 1, 2028, it must report on possible protections or incentives for local governments using model charges. The law also updates the Housing Accountability and Production Office's coverage by listing two expedited-division statutes instead of the former broader statutory range.

Cities can limit later lot development

Cities and counties can prohibit new accessory dwelling units or impose added approval criteria on lots created through middle-housing divisions. They can also restrict later middle-housing divisions of those lots. Restrictions must follow the governing middle-housing laws and leave resulting lots usable for housing at or above minimum zoning density.

Applicants must disclose sole railroad access

Land-use applicants must disclose when a railroad-highway crossing provides or will provide the property's only access. The decision maker must then notify the Oregon Department of Transportation and the railroad company. This applies to land-use and limited land-use applications.

Less scrutiny for expedited lot decisions

Expedited land divisions are removed from the stated requirement to explain approval criteria, facts, and reasons in writing. Covered permit decisions outside that exemption still require a brief explanation. The transportation director's specified authority to participate in or seek review of land-use matters also no longer covers expedited divisions. That authority remains for other listed land-use decisions.

Expedited divisions lose development-charge exclusion

The law removes expedited land divisions from a stated exclusion involving system development charges. The exclusion concerns costs of meeting conditions imposed in land-use decisions. This changes how those costs are treated for expedited divisions, but the law sets no specific added charge.

Facility services can inform expedited divisions

Officials can consider public services provided to the women's correctional facility and intake center when deciding expedited land divisions. Those services cannot support or oppose other covered land-use or limited land-use decisions. The change removes expedited divisions from that restriction.

Affordable housing mandates face local limits

Metropolitan service districts cannot set home or residential-lot prices, or choose buyers or renters, as covered approval conditions. Cities and counties can require affordable prices or designations in new multifamily buildings, subject to limits. Requirements apply only to buildings with at least 20 units and cannot cover more than 20% of units per building. Local governments must offer a fee alternative and at least one incentive, such as fee relief or a tax exemption.

Sponsors & Cosponsors

Cosponsors

There are no cosponsors for this bill.

Roll Call Votes

All Roll Calls

Yes: 128 • No: 47

House vote • 6/26/2025

House concurred in Senate amendments and repassed bill.

Yes: 31 • No: 12

Senate vote • 6/24/2025

Rules suspended. Third reading. Carried by Frederick. Passed.

Yes: 21 • No: 8

legislature vote • 6/20/2025

Ways and Means: Heard and Reported Out with Amendments

Yes: 16 • No: 5

House vote • 6/18/2025

Third reading. Carried by Marsh. Passed.

Yes: 33 • No: 17

legislature vote • 6/13/2025