Hood River’s Game-Changing Win for Housing Affordability

Dear Neighbors, 

In 2021, Thrive intervened in court on behalf of the City of Hood River to defend the City’s Missing Middle Housing ordinance against an appeal. After winning at a lower court, Oregon’s Court of Appeals ruled in our favor on August 28th, 2022, where Thrive was represented by Alexis Biddle from 1000 Friends of Oregon. The new Missing Middle code will allow for a greater variety of residential building types that include smaller cottage clusters, duplexes, and triplexes, all under design parameters that ensure new homes are attractive and blend into existing neighborhoods. 

Winning in the courtroom is necessary for any organization serious about effecting change. But the courtroom is the last resort and never the preferred path. Courts are costly and adversarial; they are not the best forums for community outreach, especially in a tight community like ours. 

In this case, however, a city-wide celebration is in order because the ruling affirms Hood River voters’ majority will that has elected and re-elected candidates who promised to tackle our housing crisis—the worst and most urgent for any city in the state, according to this article with data presented from Oregon Employment Department. Our city has been working to fix this, and the Missing Middle ordinance Thrive defended resulted from 14 public meetings, a 6-1 vote, and a multi-year-long concerted effort. This process has culminated in the most ambitious housing code reform of any city in Oregon, according to measures like housing type and unit allowances on residential zoning. 

First came the Housing Needs Analysis of 2015. In it, we learned that one-third of our neighbors could not afford their housing, including 40% of our renters, which rose to 48% in 2019.  We also learned that our options for city boundary expansions are limited. This means that if we want to continue protecting the farmland and natural resources around our city, we must do three basic things. First, use land very efficiently. Second, build a wider variety of home types for all stages of life. Third, our housing stock should serve our year-long residents first and transient tourism second. To summarize, we need fewer 5,000 square-foot homes for one or two people’s summer sojourn; we need more neighborhoods with neighborly, walkable clusters of smaller homes that serve families and households of a greater variety of ages and incomes.

Accordingly, since 2015, our city has passed Short Term Rental regulations, Townhouse Code Updates, Accessory Dwelling Unit code revisions, and now, a Middle Housing code. Thrive has been championing Missing Middle Housing policies for years, and years ago, even presented policy concepts to City Council. Although we are still far from meeting our goals, these policies go in the right direction. They envision a community made of neighborhoods where our teachers, firefighters, and essential workers can live where they serve. A place that our children and high school graduates can return to, as so many wish to do.  

Building our missing middle housing stock is not only about affordability but also about our city’s demographic health. It is about letting our grandparents age near us and giving our children a way to come back home; it’s about ensuring kids will not be knocking on empty second homes on Halloween. Every time a young family or a teacher leaves for lack of housing, we become something closer to Aspen, and our city does not want to become a resort community where residents are second-class citizens serving transient tourism. With the Missing Middle code passage, we said, “We are not Aspen. We are a town where residents, teachers, and essential workers are first-class citizens”. There is much work to do, but today, we should be proud of our city for taking a step forward.

We are thankful for our City Councilors, City Staff, our neighbors, and our partners at 1000 Friends of Oregon, who made this victory possible.

Nico Salter
Executive Director
nico@thrivehoodriver.org