Access to safe, stable, and affordable housing is a human right—and it is falling out of reach for too many Oregonians. Rents, mortgages, and other housing costs have risen faster than wages, while truly affordable homes have become harder to find. Increasingly, the teachers, healthcare workers, tradespeople, service workers, and families who make our communities run cannot afford to live in the communities they serve.

 

We need stronger accountability for public investments, reduced bureaucratic bottlenecks that slow housing delivery, and housing policies that measure success by whether Oregonians can actually afford to stay housed. Building more housing is necessary, but supply alone will not solve the affordability crisis. I will take a comprehensive approach to lowering housing costs—one that meets people where they are, prevents displacement and homelessness, and creates real opportunities for working families to build stability and long-term security. That means:

 

• Creating diverse housing options: Build more housing at a range of sizes, types, and price points—including starter homes, apartments, townhomes, duplexes, manufactured housing, and housing appropriate for seniors and people with disabilities.

 

• Investing in rental and mortgage assistance: Help Oregonians weather temporary financial setbacks before they become evictions, foreclosures, or homelessness. Keeping someone housed is both more humane and less costly than trying to help them after they have lost their home.

 

• Strengthening tenant protections: Protect renters from unfair practices, unreasonable displacement, and housing instability while ensuring Oregon's rental market remains workable for responsible housing providers.

 

• Limiting speculative ownership: Explore stronger tools to discourage large-scale speculative purchasing of homes and ensure our housing market prioritizes homes for people to live in—not simply assets for investors to accumulate.

 

• Prioritizing smart infill development: Make better use of land and infrastructure already inside our communities by supporting thoughtful infill, missing-middle housing, and walkable development while protecting Oregon's farmland and maintaining responsible Urban Growth Boundaries.

 

• Creating real pathways to homeownership: Expand access to down-payment assistance, first-time homebuyer programs, affordable starter homes, manufactured housing, and other tools that give working families a genuine opportunity to own a home and build generational wealth.

 

People should be able to live where they work, raise their families near their support networks, and remain in the communities they helped build. A punishing commute should not be the price of an affordable home. I'll fight to lower housing costs at every stage—from helping people remain securely housed today to creating more homes and opening meaningful pathways to ownership tomorrow. Because stable housing isn't just a roof over your head. It's the foundation for financial security, healthy families, strong schools, and thriving communities.