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In the first six months of Portland’s inclusionary housing policy, not a single large multifamily development was submitted for land-use review.

From Feb. 1 to Aug. 31, there were no new land-use review applications for multifamily projects of 20 units or more.

The stark finding comes from a six-month review of inclusionary housing’s effects on housing production by the city’s Bureau of Planning and Sustainability.

The city’s inclusionary housing policy took effect Feb. 1, requiring developers of projects submitted after that date to include rent-restricted affordable units or pay a substantial fee.

City officials are closely watching the development pipeline. So far, developers are moving forward with a flood of projects submitted before inclusionary housing took effect. As of Feb. 1, an estimated 19,000 multifamily residential units were in the development pipeline, according to BPS.

鈥淎bout four years of development capacity went in prior to inclusionary housing,鈥� said Tyler Bump, senior economic planner for BPS.

In December and January, 5,000 units were submitted for land-use review.

Bump said it’s difficult to disentangle the effects of inclusionary housing from other development costs, including construction labor, land and increasingly skittish equity markets.

To date, inclusionary housing has resulted in six privately financed projects that were permitted after Feb. 1, including 60 affordable apartments. Those projects also included 406 market-rate apartments.

Another five projects backed by the Portland Housing Bureau moved forward. Those projects include 424 affordable units at levels ranging from 0 percent to 80 percent of Portland’s median family income.

Also, the bureau hasn’t seen a surge of 19-units buildings, suggesting developers are not evading the requirements by building structures just below the requirement threshold. From February through August, 10 buildings of 15 to 19 units were proposed, the same amount as during a similar six-month period in 2016. Applications also indicated the small buildings were proposed for modestly sized lots, and were approaching the maximum allowable density.

鈥淚t’s something that we’re going to need to continue to track, for sure,鈥� Bump said.

City commissioners are considering possible opt-in incentives to create affordable housing among the 19,000 units that have already vested. LOCUS, a developers’ group, has been in discussions with commissioners regarding how to craft the incentives.

Brian Wilson, partner at Mainland Northwest, said he supports opt-in incentives for vested projects. Mainland Northwest is developing a number of multifamily projects in St. Johns. 鈥淚 could move it forward if there was an opt-in,鈥� he said.

Wilson said inclusionary housing was having a greater effect than BPS’ report suggests. 鈥淚 think it’s having a bigger impact than it’s implying here,鈥� he said. 鈥淭he next update is going to be very interesting.鈥�

Bump said he would release another memo in March detailing the first year of inclusionary housing. Bump said it will be cause for concern if the number of units in the development pipeline falls below 10,000.