While the city of Lake Oswego is months away from adopting its strategy for producing more housing in the next 20 years, the local government plans to accelerate one aspect of the plan: property tax exemptions for affordable housing projects.
The City Council gave direction to staff to fast-track this initiative during a meeting Tuesday, April 2.
The meeting began with public comment from Mercy Housing Northwest President Joe Thompson, who requested that the city approve a $2.1 million property tax exemption for the project involving 100 affordable housing units at the former Marylhurst University campus. He said it would allow the developer to better maintain the property and be able to pay for potential unexpected costs. He also emphasized that Mercy Housing would need the exemption by this summer. The summer timing of the exemption would allow the organization to maximize its benefit, he added.
In turn, the city plans to create a property tax exemption program soon so that Mercy Housing and others could apply to receive exemptions. Eligible applicants would need to be nonprofit organizations that are developers of low-income housing. Long range planning manager Erik Olson said in an interview that Hacienda CDC, which is developing an affordable housing project on Boones Ferry Road, would also qualify for the exemption but that it hadn’t yet inquired about doing so. He wasn’t sure if Habitat for Humanity’s affordable housing project on Boones Ferry Road would qualify, however.
“We’re accelerating this aspect because it would provide benefits to Mercy and Hacienda knowing they have this exemption in place as they move their project forward,” Mayor Joe Buck said in an interview.
The city has discussed myriad other strategies for addressing its need for housing — ranging from other forms of tax abatements to public-private partnerships and zoning standards — but has not yet formalized its strategies. It plans to do so later this year.
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