Earthquake Buildings

The new data comes as the region's housing prices are climbing faster than almost anywhere else in the country, fueling concerns about gentrification leading to displacement. (AP Photo/Don Ryan, file).

Portlanders struggling to afford their housing have migrated to the city's outskirts and suburbs over the past decade, new Census data show.

Households that spend more than 30 percent of their income on housing, a traditional measure of affordability, are becoming increasingly concentrated in certain neighborhoods.

What's more, the increase has occurred in areas with fewer services and that are far from the region's economic centers.

The U.S. Census Bureau data comes as the region's home prices are climbing faster than almost anywhere else in the country, fueling concerns about gentrification leading to displacement.

"The center is becoming wealthier, and the push is to the edges," said Lisa Bates, an associate professor at Portland State University who studies housing policy. "Post-recession housing prices have gone through the absolute roof, and you have lower income people moving to outer east Portland."

East Portland near 82nd Avenue has seen an outsized increase in cost-burdened households. That could compound the problems resulting from a longstanding lack of investment in the area, where poor infrastructure and transit can make it difficult to get to jobs that are farther away.

Fewer homeowners were cost-burdened in 2015, contributing to a decline in cost-burdened households across the region. Strict mortgage lending practices put in place after the housing bubble collapsed prevent most who can't afford a home from buying one.

But renters are increasingly cost-burdened because they're susceptible to short-term changes in housing costs.

The 30 percent figure has historically been a rule of thumb used to gauge housing affordability. But it doesn't necessarily capture the full picture of people struggling under high housing costs, Bates said.

"When you're low-income, that 30 percent threshold might not be a reasonable amount," she said. "If you counted it backward from everything you need to buy, you might you have much less than 30 percent of your income left over."

Local and state officials are considering policies intended to mitigate the crisis, but which risk exacerbating it further if they serve to restrict the supply of new homes.

One such policy, called inclusionary zoning, goes back before the Portland City Council next week. (A hearing set for Thursday was canceled due to weather.) It calls for all major apartment developments throughout the city to include units affordable to households making less than the city's median income.

-- Elliot Njus

enjus@oregonian.com

503-294-5034

@enjus

Mark Friesen and Melissa Lewis contributed to this report.