Portland’s Affordable Housing Vacancies Surge to 10-Year High, City Struggles to Move People In

The number of vacant affordable units in Portland has reached a 10-year high as developers aim to get homeless people, particularly older people, into safe and stable living arrangements.

More Portland Affordable Housing Units Now Available

Nearly 1,900 vacant affordable housing units are now available in Portland after a new permanent affordable housing complex opened up in downtown Portland on Tuesday- the Julia West, a 12-story building with 89 units.

Twenty units will be set aside specifically for people who are in recovery from substance use disorders.

In 2022, the vacancy rate at affordable housing complexes was 4%, excluding affordable units in market-rate buildings, but this year it has nearly doubled to 7.4%. While vacancies are organic due to turnover, the 7.4% rate is a historical high.

The developers want to bring people off the street, from a shelter, or from a temporary situation into a safe, stable living situation with on-site case managers and other resources.

While it’s also sometimes easier to get into a market-rate apartment that doesn’t need an annual proof of income or other affordability requirements, many new units have compliance steps for the income verification and paperwork associated with affordable housing.

A CoStar study, which manages Apartments.com and Homes.com, indicates that there are 25,409 affordable housing units in Portland, but nearly 1,900 are vacant. The city is working on solutions to clear the bottleneck preventing people from accessing these affordable units.