Baker County Official Testifies to Lawmakers on Local Housing Crisis
By Joe Hathaway on Thursday, September 28th, 2023 in More Top Stories Northeastern Oregon News
SALEM – Holly Kerns, Planning Director for Baker County and Baker City, gave state lawmakers an update on the housing struggles of the community.
Kerns testified virtually in front of the Oregon Senate Housing and Development Committee on Wednesday, September 27 as part of the League of Oregon Cities, along with city leaders from Wilsonville, Newport and Salem about city infrastructure needs.
State lawmakers are in Salem this week for meetings that will preview some of the most important issues they’ll tackle next year as part of the legislative short session
The meetings are part of legislative days, three or four days about every eight weeks when lawmakers gather to hear updates on the laws they passed and discuss new issues facing the state.
They don’t pass laws during this time and they’ll only have 35 days, beginning Feb. 5, to pass laws before adjourning until 2025.
Kerns told the Senate committee the challenges Baker City faces are with infrastructure and housing.
She said the city has ample residentially zoned land available, but the construction of new housing units is not keeping up with the demand. highlighting a disconnect between available land and housing production due to infrastructure costs. In 2021, Baker City adopted a Buildable Lands Inventory that identified ample residentially zoned land, with 615 acres at its disposal, including 200 vacant acres. However, the city’s Housing Needs Analysis revealed that housing construction hasn’t kept up with growing demand, impacting both residents and economic prospects.
Kerns says the primary barrier to housing growth is the prohibitive cost of infrastructure development. While some suggest waiving system development charges and similar fees to boost housing production, she says Baker City faces a challenge: finding the funding for essential infrastructure components like safe drinking water, sewage disposal, stormwater systems, and streets.
The situation has left many prospective employees without suitable housing, causing employers to miss out on opportunities. To address the housing crisis, Kerns emphasized that infrastructure investment is essential to unlock Baker City’s housing potential. She said balancing the need for affordable housing with the costs of necessary infrastructure remains a significant challenge for the city in the foreseeable future.
