SALEM -- Long-stymied legislation that would let cities require affordable units in new housing projects appeared to get a lift as it returned to life in a Senate hearing Wednesday.

Prominent builders and a lobbyist for Oregon real estate agents offered qualified support for lifting the state's 17-year-old ban on setting housing requirements, also known as inclusionary zoning. Traditionally, those industries have opposed the idea.

"Voluntary programs can only go so far in terms of making a difference," Sara Zahn of development firm Gerding Edlen told members of the Senate's workforce committee. "This gives local jurisdictions a little more teeth, a little more skin in the game."

The housing discussion was among several Wednesday that set the table for next month's short session, joining debates on the minimum wage and marijuana legalization. Lawmakers and lobbyists are back in the Capitol for three days of committee hearings this week that many consider an unofficial start to the work they'll begin Feb. 1.

The shift on inclusionary zoning comes months after a similar measure died in the Senate despite passing the House with strong support. It's even more notable because the new measure up for debate goes beyond the previous bill by adding the state's rental market.

Democrats and advocates, who've made addressing Oregon's housing crisis a top priority this year, credit a steady drumbeat of stories and statistics meant to illustrate how serious conditions have become. House Democrats are set to preview a major relief package Thursday.

But the change also reflects Democrats' willingness to offer new density and permitting incentives in exchange for lifting the ban -- as well as a discussion, if not full support, for re-examining land-use and growth restrictions that developers have long decried as a brake on construction.

Even the architect of Oregon's 1999 ban, lobbyist Jon Chandler of the Oregon Home Builders Association, told lawmakers he was willing to reconsider the pre-emption. That interest, however, would come "if and only if we're working on the entire issue, rather than just one end of it."

Chandler said Sen. Chris Edwards, D-Eugene, was helping him draft a bill that would address some of his longtime concerns about Oregon's land-use restrictions.

Another critic, Shaun Jillions of the Oregon Association of Realtors, also softened his stance Wednesday after testifying against inclusionary zoning in 2015.

"You've chosen something that might be a potential solution," he said, before warning that inclusionary zoning, if not done properly, could make market-rate housing more expensive.

He urged lawmakers to consider lowering the number of units that builders might have to set aside as affordable. The proposal put forth by Sen. Michael Dembrow, D-Portland, would allow cities to carve out as much as 30 percent of any major development.

Jillions called that "a very high number," saying even San Francisco requires just 12 percent of units be reserved as affordable.

Dike Dame, whose firm helped build Portland's Pearl and South Waterfront districts, said he welcomed the bill because developers have "an obligation" to help tackle housing prices.

He also mentioned San Francisco -- but as a place where families can't afford to live and as an example he's worried Portland is following.

"We don't want to be that," he said.

But Dame also said he appreciated incentives in the bill that would let local governments offer height and density bonuses, fee waivers and speedier permits and applications.

"If there's something you can get back," he said, "it's all about math."

-- Denis C. Theriault

503-221-8430; @TheriaultPDX