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This file photo shows an affordable housing complex under construction at SE 171st and Division.

(Thomas Boyd, Staff)

In a reversal, the City Club of Portland has amended its report on housing affordability to include a recommendation to re-zone single-family neighborhoods for increased density.

The club voted by a "wide margin" to adopt a minority version of the report, said Mike Westling, who was a member of a club housing affordability committee that wrote it. He argued in favor of re-zoning residential neighborhoods to include more "middle housing" such as duplexes, triplexes and townhomes.

"Portland's residential zoning code was not brought down on stone tablets from Mt. Tabor," Westling said in prepared remarks at a club meeting.

The club committee was in large agreement about what it called a housing affordability "crisis," arguing in favor of lifting the statewide ban on rent control, banning no-cause evictions in Portland and implementing a rental property licensing system in the city, among other approaches. The club called upon civic leaders for "action now" and more than just "half-measures and business as usual."

But on the issue of re-zoning single-family neighborhoods, the committee was split. It initially voted 6-5 that the city already has the zoning in place to adequately increase density.

"The city must work to overcome neighborhood skepticism about 'missing middle housing,' which is typically multifamily housing built on a scale of single-family structures," the draft report read. "Duplexes, triplexes, small apartment buildings and courtyard projects could provide affordable housing dispersed throughout established neighborhoods."

Westling's minority group thought that simply working to "overcome neighborhood skepticism" did not go far enough, and recommended that the city re-zone residential areas to allow for more density.

"If our goal is to preserve our neighborhoods exactly as they are for years to come - we can choose to do that," Westling said to the group. "But we'll also have to accept the fact that these neighborhoods will continue to become more and more expensive and that large numbers of Portlanders won't be able to afford to live there."

The club's general membership apparently agreed. It is relatively unusual for the club to adopt the minority version of a report, Westling said. The club's vote, which is also open to online members, will be made final on Wednesday.

Population growth, job creation and low vacancy rates have helped contribute to surging home prices and rents in the Portland region.

-- Luke Hammill

lhammill@oregonian.com

503-294-4029

@lucashammill