Oregon needs thousands of construction, government workers to close housing gap

(Oregon Capital Chronicle) Oregon’s housing shortage is worse today than it was before the start of the Covid pandemic, a state economist told lawmakers last week during a hearing to discuss ways of easing the statewide crunch.

The shortage of affordable housing has a big impact: Oregon has one of the highest homeless rates in the U.S., with more than 14,600 people needing stable housing in 2020, a rate of 2.5%. Only Washington state, California, Texas, Florida and New York had higher rates, according to the U.S. Interagency Council on Homeless.

Mike Mcinally