With housing prices nearly doubling in the last 10 years, the number of Oregonians who can afford to buy a home without assistance has dwindled and a new coalition has formed to change it.

The Unlocking Home Ownership Coalition is made up of more than 20 Oregon organizations, and is submitting plans to the Legislature to help address the problem. The plans include investing in affordable housing, assistance for first-time homebuyers, and closing the 15% homeownership gap for communities of color.

Shannon Vilhauer, executive director of Habitat for Humanity of Oregon, which is leading the coalition, said helping people get a home is the right thing to do.

"Some Oregonians have just done all the right things, right? Worked on credit repair, saving for a down payment," Vilhauer outlined. "And yet interest rates are high, wages have not kept pace with home prices, and sometimes we all need a hand up to enter this first-time homeownership market."

She noted people of color, especially African Americans, have a long history of being excluded from homeownership in Oregon. The state constitution originally banned Black people from owning land. Some were also denied benefits through the GI Bill, or were subject to redlining into the 1990s.

Vilhauer pointed out Portland is an obvious example of systemic racism around housing.

"That's a city where we did have redlining; where a highway was built through generational, African American foundational wealth, and that wealth was actively stripped from communities," Vilhauer explained.

Owning a home means having long-term, stable housing costs and is often more affordable over time than renting. Along with the financial benefits, Vilhauer added studies show kids who grow up in homes their parents own are more likely to graduate from high school and go to college and are more likely to own their own homes.

"When we talk about really generational opportunity and the springboard to being a fully contributing and supported member of the community, we really think that homeownership is a critical piece of that puzzle," Villehauer emphasized.

Heading into the 2025 session, Villehauer is optimistic with the number of state legislators making affordable housing a top priority, the coalition's proposals will move forward.

North Dakota housing assistance offices helping with rent vouchers and discrimination cases are having to do more with less as federal changes take shape, and they warned additional headwinds are possible.

In recent months, the Trump administration has implemented a flurry of moves dealing with the Department of Housing and Urban Development, including staff reductions in field offices.

Dave Klein, executive director of the Great Plains Housing Authority, said it makes it hard to seek guidance when working with clients on HUD-backed initiatives.

"It does have an impact of when you're trying to do certain things," Klein pointed out. "We can't come up with an answer or get the resources for the landlord and the tenant in a timely fashion, or in a fashion that we used to be able to."

House Republicans and the White House want to cut rental aid, saying money should be shifted to states to reshape their programs. Klein countered it would take time and legislative work, as many people still struggle with rising housing costs. He added some plans could reduce administrative burdens, depending on how they are crafted. The HUD Secretary said existing programs are too "bloated and bureaucratic."

The Trump administration already cut HUD grants to help prevent housing discrimination based on an applicant's sexual orientation or gender identity.

Michelle Rydz, executive director of the High Plains Fair Housing Center, said without the funding, they are in a bind educating LGBTQ+ populations about their rights, including informing them about subtle forms of unfair practices.

"They say discrimination is with a smile and a handshake, so they might get delayed in getting responded to, not shown as many apartments," Rydz explained.

Like Klein, Rydz worries about the long-term future of rental aid, with the White House proposal including a nearly 40% reduction.

"The administration said as they were coming into office that they were going to address the high cost of living," Rydz observed. "But really, looking at the proposals, it looks to me like it's going to only increase housing instability."


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Minnesota's legislative session is hovering around its endpoint and lawmakers found extra room in the budget to expand affordable housing.

Those assisting renters and aspiring homeowners said it helps but the resource gap remains wide. The housing finance bill sent to the governor includes an extra $15 million to support programs keeping people in their homes amid rising costs or create pathways to secure housing. The Legislature was looking to trim spending this session.

Libby Murphy, director of policy for the Minnesota Housing Partnership, was happy to see bipartisanship prevent taking a big step backward.

"One in every four households is getting some type of federal or state rental assistance," Murphy pointed out. "That speaks to the volume of the need. So, we're grateful for these investments. We're grateful that housing did see an increase in spending."

Still, she noted it is disappointing a $75 million increase was whittled down. A March report from the partnership said the state has a housing shortage of nearly 100,000 units. It showed wages have failed to keep pace with housing costs, including for the state's most in-demand workers, such as registered nurses. A program benefiting from new spending focuses on homeownership opportunities for those workers.

Murphy acknowledged this year's investment pales in comparison to the historic $1.3 billion housing package from the 2023 session but added it was an outlier and initiatives from the aid package are still coming together, as expected.

"Things like Bring It Home Rental Assistance, which is a more permanent rental assistance program, that is still getting up and running," Murphy explained. "Other brick and mortar programs, it often takes those resources a few years to get out the door."

Other assistance groups said higher interest rates are getting in the way of some affordable housing projects taking off. Another new investment this year includes boosting grants for rural communities to get started on housing infrastructure, making their communities more attractive to developers.


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Rents in Los Angeles were already high before the firestorm earlier this year, but now a coalition of housing groups is suing six landlords for price gouging.

In California, it is generally illegal to raise rents more than 10% following an emergency declaration, but the nonprofit Strategic Actions for a Just Economy has found many units where advertised rates jumped 25% to almost 50%.

Heeyoung Linda Park, an attorney with the Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles, a co-counsel for the plaintiffs, has been watching the activity.

"When they tracked these rental prices, they found hundreds of properties illegally gouging rents, and so there were so many that they eventually had to recruit volunteers to help them track the listings and identify the worst offenders," Park said.

Attempts to reach the defendants for comment were unsuccessful. The first court appearance is scheduled for later this summer. The City of Los Angeles is seeking $62 million in damages in a separate lawsuit against different landlords.

Rodney Leggett, an attorney with the Housing Rights Center, is also a co-counsel for the plaintiffs alongside the Western Center on Law & Poverty and the California Center for Movement Legal Services.

"We find it very exploitive to sort of take advantage of people when they're most desperate, including people who have been displaced as a result of the wildfires," he said.

More than 16,000 structures were destroyed by the Palisades and Eaton fires, adding more pressure to an already-stretched rental market.


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