By LAUREN DAKE/Oregon Public Broadcasting

SALEM — A central piece of Gov. Tina Kotek’s plan to boost housing production in Oregon launched on Thursday.

The $75 million “revolving loan fund” is aimed at helping cities and counties boost affordable housing stock. The idea is to create a program to help local governments offer interest-free loans to developers who are building moderate and affordable home projects but have a funding gap. The $75 million is the starting point and will be replenished once the loans are paid off.

This was a signature piece of Kotek’s larger housing package that passed the legislative session in 2024. Since then, the state has worked with city and county leaders to build the infrastructure for the loan program.

Tillamook County Commissioner Erin Skaar said the rental housing vacancy rate at the coast “hovers around zero.”

“We need everything,” she said in an interview with OPB. “We have a huge need for affordable housing. We have a huge need for workforce housing. The hospitality industry is employing so many, and some of those folks make a little too much to be in affordable housing, but couldn’t afford market rate.”

Skaar hopes the money will help the county build more projects.

Oregon Housing Community Services Director Andrea Bell said the goal of this fund is to provide local governments with an up-front cash infusion that is also flexible and won’t result in developers getting bogged down in red tape. One of the state’s big parameters on the money is income-related: Housing must rent or sell to people who are making 120% of the area median income. That amounts to $97,100 for a family of four living in Baker County or $141,600 for the same size family in Multnomah County.

Bell said she hopes about 3,000 units are built from the first disbursement of the loan.

In recent years, the state has funneled millions of dollars toward affordable housing and homelessness prevention. The governor has also pushed for more support for renters and aimed to cut bureaucratic tape so building can happen faster.

Despite the money and a slew of new policies, the state still isn’t building fast enough to meet the governor’s goal of adding 36,000 new housing units a year. The homeless crisis is still raging, and eviction cases continue to climb.

Bell said the thought that people across the state go to bed worried about their housing keeps her up at night. “This is the decade of housing, this is what we are doing, and we are going to be relentless on housing,” she said.

In a written statement, the governor said this is an “essential piece of the affordability puzzle.”

“When Oregonians making a good wage can’t afford to live where they work, our businesses and communities can’t thrive,” she said.