Oregon legislators clear the way for more residential, farmworker housing in Woodburn

Woodburn officials say the city needs more land to meet the housing needs of its growing population.

On Wednesday, the Oregon Legislature cleared a path for the city to build more affordable housing. The bill will need Gov. Tina Kotek’s signature before it becomes law.

The measure will speed up a complex land use process and allow Woodburn to expand its urban growth boundary for residential housing. Local elected officials say a private developer, Mountainview Land Company, is ready to break ground on a 120-acre tract of land on the northern edge of the city they say will be enough to build 600 homes.

The developer has agreed to donate five acres for affordable farmworker housing — a unique model that could inform how private developers work with Oregon communities in the future.

“This partnership is rooted in a shared recognition: Woodburn is growing rapidly, and that growth must include the farmworker families and working-class residents who built the city and sustain Oregon’s agricultural economy,” said Maria Elena Guerra, the executive director of the Farmworker Housing Development Corporation — a nonprofit affordable housing developer.

Two years ago, lawmakers passed Kotek’s 2024 omnibus housing package, which allows cities a one-time shortcut to expand their urban growth boundaries. So far, only three Oregon cities — Bend, Pendleton and Redmond — have used this process

House Bill 4035 makes more cities eligible for that shortcut. The bill also allows Woodburn specifically to move even more quickly at making land available for housing

Land policy watchdogs oppose “super-citing”

Another bill earlier in this session, Senate Bill 1564, would have also brought 120 acres into Woodburn’s urban growth boundary, but it would have entirely sidestepped the state’s land use process.

Land use watchdogs opposed that proposal, arguing it would have set a troubling “super citing” precedent.

Oregon’s land protection laws are enshrined in SB 100, which passed in 1973. It guides the state’s planning system and protects farms and forests from urban sprawl.

“The Legislature, because they are not set up to be a planning commission, is going to skip a bunch of steps that would normally happen at the local level where community members, local businesses and farmers are putting their perspectives and saying, ‘Hey, here’s what’s on the land, and here’s what we need in the city,’” Sam Diaz, the executive director of 1000 Friends of Oregon, said of SB 1564 before it stalled in a Senate committee.

Rep. Lesly Muñoz, D-Woodburn, lobbied to amend HB 4035 to fast track Woodburn’s urban growth boundary expansion while following the state’s broader land use process.

“The legislation does not waive or exempt the city [Woodburn] from any applicable local or state land use laws, nor does it bypass any required permitting processes,” said Maricela Guerrero, a spokesperson for the City of Woodburn. “Instead, it streamlines the timelines by consolidating review procedures into a single, coordinated process.”

Affordable housing hard to come by

Guerra, with the Farmworker Housing Development Corporation, said Woodburn’s seeing a structured collaboration between a private developer and a farmworker-led community network that is unique in Oregon.

“Too often, community organizations are brought into projects late in the process, after major decisions have already been made. In this case, the engagement has been proactive,” Guerra said. “It acknowledges that development in a majority-Latinx, agricultural city like Woodburn requires partnership, not just construction.”

Guerra said a family of five whose primary income comes from farm labor on average earns about $35,000 a year, making it extremely difficult to find affordable housing.

Farmworker Housing Development Corporation has more than 350 families on waiting lists for properties it has built in Marion and Polk Counties, she said. Families often wait for years.

“Overcrowding is common. Families double up. Some travel long distances from other communities because they cannot secure stable housing locally,” she said.

Novel plan gains support from land use advocates

1000 Friends’ Diaz said he’s never seen an urban growth boundary expansion include a land donation like this. He said he’s cautiously optimistic and hopes to see the deal go through.

“It’s logical for our folks to [say], ‘OK, we’re expanding our urban growth boundaries, so we’re giving up some of our farmland.’ But in this case, we’re giving it up to build farmworker housing,” Diaz said. “Well, that’s a connection to agriculture. That’s actually a beautiful way to build solidarity amongst our urban, suburban and rural communities here in Oregon.”

The bill passed both chambers of the legislature with bipartisan support.