The Portland, Ore., City Council approved a 1% construction excise tax. The tax is expected to raise $8 million a year to fund affordable housing initiatives.
Both residential and commercial projects are subject to the tax. The Oregon Legislature repealed a 17-year-old ban on inclusionary housing rules earlier this year, opening the door for Portland’s tax.
Portland will start collecting the tax August 1, with proceeds earmarked for the city’s Inclusionary Housing Fund and the Oregon Department of Housing and Community Services. Certain projects, those costing less than $100,000, qualified affordable housing developments, some owner-occupied residential projects, public works, private schools, religious buildings, agricultural buildings, nonprofit care facilities, and accessory dwellings, are exempt.
Portland currently has a hot housing market, with low availability of homes for sale. The excise tax collected is meant to help build housing projects targeting those who earn 80% or less of the city’s median family income.
Related Stories
Multifamily Housing | May 30, 2015
Energy Department releases resources to assess building energy benchmarking policies, programs
The new handbook demonstrates methodologies using real data from New York City.
Multifamily Housing | May 28, 2015
Census Bureau: 10 U.S. cities now have one million people or more
California and Texas each have three of the one-million-plus cities.
Multifamily Housing | May 27, 2015
‘European’ living comes to The Woodlands with its first condo tower
Treviso at Waterway Square will offer a dynamic downtown setting with numerous live/work/play options.
Multifamily Housing | May 19, 2015
Zaha Hadid unveils 'interlocking lattice' design for luxury apartments in Monterrey, Mexico
Hadid's scheme was inspired by the Mexican tradition of interlocking lattice geometries.
Multifamily Housing | May 19, 2015
Study: Urban land use policies costs U.S. economy $1.6 trillion a year
The research contends that more affordable housing options can help cities generate significantly more income.
Multifamily Housing | May 17, 2015
New York City runs into affordable housing dilemma
New York City’s affordable housing policy has created attractive low-cost housing, but the price of success has been high.
Sponsored | Coatings | May 14, 2015
Prismatic coatings accent the new Altara Center
This multi-use campus will contain a university, sports facilities, medical center, and world-class shopping
High-rise Construction | May 6, 2015
Two new designs submitted for New York City Riverside Center
Both designs reference the cantilevers and other elements featured in architect Christian de Portzamparc’s original masterplan for the complex, which has now been scrapped.
High-rise Construction | May 6, 2015
Parks in the sky? Subterranean bike paths? Meet the livable city, designed in 3D
Today’s great cities must be resilient—and open—to many things, including the influx of humanity, writes Gensler co-CEO Andy Cohen.
Mixed-Use | May 5, 2015
Miami ‘innovation district’ will have 6.5 million sf of dense, walkable space
Designing a neighborhood from the ground-up, developers aim to create a dense, walkable district that fulfills what is lacking from Miami’s current auto-dependent layout.
