PORTLAND, OR -- Oregon’s Governor signed a package of bills Monday, all aimed at increasing housing production and helping cities pay for residential infrastructure.

Governor Tina Kotek says when she took office last year, Oregon’s housing supply was short by about 140,000 units, "And while Oregon has already made great strides in passing innovative legislation, we are still too far behind and we have a lot of work to do." She told the crowd gathered Monday in Portland, "Our under-supply of housing worsens our homelessness crisis, drives up home prices and makes it harder for Oregonians to live near where they work and play and go to school."

Among the four bills she signed at Monday’s ceremony was SB 1537, sponsored by Kotek. It establishes the Housing Accountability and Production Office. "This office will provide a more comprehensive approach to support housing production across our state and will be a resource to support local governments and developers who are just trying to build more housing," says Kotek, "Second, the bill provides a one-time option for cities to expand their Urban Growth Boundary, if they have shown that they meet specific land and affordability eligibility metrics." She adds, "Within expansion areas, 30% of all housing units must be legally restricted for affordable housing. The 30% requirement would be one of the strongest affordability requirements in the United States."

The other three bills signed Monday fund municipal infrastructure to support new housing, pay for continued operations at  homeless shelters around the state and direct the state to adopt model ordinances cities can use to meet housing goals.

Vice Chair of the Senate Interim Committee on Housing and Development Dick Anderson (R-Lincoln City) is pleased with the package but says, "I’m a big believer of managing expectations. So, we can celebrate, but we’re not done. This is a nice step but there’s plenty more ahead of us." He told the crowd, "The key to get us out of the crisis is production. We need more housing units at all levels, all types, ownership and rental, and incomes- all incomes." He wants future legislative sessions to stay focused on increasing housing production.

State Rep. Vikki Breese-Iverson (R-Prineville) also attended Monday's ceremony. She was Vice Chair of the House Interim Committee on Housing and Homelessness and believes the spending package will help alleviate the difficulty in Central Oregon to build more homes, "It has to do with regulation, it has to do with infrastructure issues, where we get stopped because we just don’t have the dollars to create the infrastructure to help the next project happen. And all of those things were addressed inside of the package of bills that we talked about today. So, it is a win for Central Oregon, as well as all of Oregon."

Breese-Iverson was joined by Madras City Administrator Will Ibershof, who says his city gets $1.4 million from the package, "That is for infrastructure for both workforce housing, as well as apartments and condos." KBND News asked what that level of investment means for a city like Madras. He says, "It’s huge. I mean, we have a general fund budget of $4 million. So something like this is significant. The other part of it is, we have employers that want to open shops: stores, businesses, manufacturing, etc. and they need housing for their workers that are making $35 to $40 an hour. And that’s not something that comes easily."

They were also asked why it was important to travel to Portland for the signing ceremony? Breese-Iverson responded, "There was a team of us that worked together to get this legislation forward and we did it with our local partners. And if we don’t show up for each other, for the good things and the bad things, what are we doing?" Ibershoff added, "And for me, it was just coming up to say thank you. You know, if you don’t thank them, they’re going to forget about you."

Also in the spending package: $2.5 million for Redmond to develop infrastructure for the Northpoint Vista housing development, and another $1.5-million for Deschutes County’s Stabilization Center.