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Portland has a deficit of affordable housing, and Portland City Commissioner Dan Saltzman doesn’t expect it to be filled naturally.

鈥淭he indicators are that market saturation alone is not going to eliminate that demand, which I think is what a lot of people are banking on,鈥� he said. 鈥淲hen you consider the tremendous number of people moving to this region, that puts a lot of pressure on the existing housing. We have a tremendous multifamily construction boom under way and it’s my hope that we can capture a good fair share of that to be affordable.鈥�

In early May, city councilors approved Saltzman’s plan to create the Affordable Housing Incentive Zoning program, which rewards developers with density bonuses in exchange for providing affordable or workforce housing.

The Portland region has a deficit of approximately 20,000 affordable housing units (for people making 60 percent of the area’s median family income, or $29,160 annually), according to John Miller, executive director of the Oregon Opportunity Network. He said Greater Portland has a surplus of approximately 20,000 workforce housing units, but they’re not near the city center.

Saltzman’s program offers floor-area-ratio bonuses in exchange for inclusion of a minimum amount of rent-restricted units. Portland currently has 18 different FAR bonuses, but

Saltzman plans to weed those down to just a few. He’s also proposing a payment-in-lieu option that would allow developers to buy that same bonus.

鈥淚 think it’s an important societal goal,鈥� Saltzman said of integrating affordable units in market-rate ones. 鈥淲e need to have people from all walks of life getting along, and that happens when they live in close proximity to each other.鈥�