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Portland City Council on Thursday passed a resolution that establishes key actions to increase construction of affordable housing.

Four other resolutions, part of Mayor Ted Wheeler’s plan to address homelessness, were also passed by the council. One included a ban on unsanctioned camping in the city and called for the city to work with Multnomah County to establish as many as six sanctioned camping sites holding up to 250 people each.

The council began discussions on the proposed resolutions and received public testimony during a meeting last week. Then 55 additional people provided testimony before Thursday’s votes.

One resolution calls for action to 鈥渃atalyze the production of 20,000 units of affordable housing by the end of 2033 and other forms of housing production.鈥� Those include building a land bank of up to 400 publicly owned sites, identifying vacant or underutilized privately-owned properties, and engaging state partners to increase local and state funding for affordable housing. Construction of 20,000 affordable housing units could cost approximately $9.8 billion and, based on the Portland Housing Bureau‘s current contribution levels, could require a direct city subsidy of $3 billion.

Included in the resolution is direction to create a central point of contact at the Bureau of Development Services by Dec. 31, 2022, for individual applicants seeking a permit to build affordable housing and a central point of contact for other types of multifamily housing by Dec. 31, 2023. Also included is direction to evaluate affordable housing opportunities in large projects, address zoning code issues, explore opportunities to create pre-reviewed plans for small multifamily development projects, and assess the impact of city policies and regulations on the cost of building housing.

An amendment proposed by Commissioner Carmen Rubio also was passed unanimously. It states: 鈥淭he Portland Housing Bureau shall work collaboratively with any other city bureau actively acquiring property to explore whether those acquisitions may also be used, in whole or in part, for affordable housing development. This collaborative effort related to property acquisition should continue beyond Feb. 1, 2023 and become a permanent practice between the Portland Housing Bureau and other city bureaus.鈥�

The other resolutions passed include: assessing options to increase coordination and enhancing unhoused access to paid, nonstandard work; connecting mental health and substance abuse recovery services to unhoused individuals; setting city budget priorities to implement affordable housing, connect homeless individuals with sanitary mental health and substance abuse recovery services, and request assistance from county, Metro, state and federal partners; and creating a diversion program for individuals experiencing homelessness.