By Ethan Seltzer

It's a dynamic time in the life of our region. New growth is occurring at rates we haven't seen in a very long time, and in locations that only a short time ago were never envisioned as "ground zero" for affordability or demand. As we try to make sense of what we're witnessing, common misconceptions are getting in the way:

Common misconception #1: The urban growth boundary makes housing less affordable by constraining land supply. This claim has been addressed and dismissed since Gov. Vic Atiyeh's administration. Urban growth boundaries (UGBs) are long-term planning tools. By law, there must be enough land in the UGB to meet needs for residential development for the next 20 years. There is. Claiming that limited land supply has driven up housing costs disproportionately is unfounded and just plain wrong.

Common misconception #2: New housing makes existing housing less affordable. New housing, whether multifamily or single family, does not get built unless there is demand for new housing. For many years, no one was building housing in the inner-east parts of Portland. Now they are -- but not because builders woke up one day and decided to give it a whirl. Instead, builders woke up one day and discovered huge demand for housing in those areas and got to work. New, more expensive housing in neighborhoods, and greater demand for the housing that exists, are the product of changes in tastes, policy, and investment that have been brewing for years, not because the housing down the block is the most expensive housing on the street.

Common misconception #3: Affordability can be sustained if we just stop neighborhood change. In actual fact, affordability requires the change that comes with creating new units. If we are honestly concerned about affordability, we'll do what we can to see that all neighborhoods are adding new units as the city grows. The greatest impediment to affordability in Portland today is outmoded zoning that segregates neighborhoods by building type. If the only way to preserve "character" is to restrict the kinds of housing allowed in neighborhoods, then you can kiss affordability goodbye.

Common misconception #4: Density doesn't matter. If you care about energy use, farmland preservation and economic vitality in Portland, density matters greatly. Current research by Jinwon Kim and David Brownstone makes that clear. In addition, if you care about affordability, density is at the intersection of what public policy and private investment can accomplish. To claim that lowering density will do a better job of preserving our sense of place is to put our landscape and climate, the real sources for what sets Portland apart, at great risk.

Change is, as they say, hard. Portland is changing. If we want that change to result in a better place for more people, we need real common sense to replace the convenient, common misconceptions that too often pepper our public debates.

*

Ethan Seltzer is a professor at Portland State University's Toulan School of Urban Studies and Planning.