Oregon Population Thread Including PSU and Census Data

[urbanlife]

Originally Posted by aquaticko

....A building boom would make things worse?

Again, how do we get the idea that supply and demand doesn't apply to the housing market?

The fact that Portland's housing is growing slowly AND the population of the city is on the decline, while the 'burbs are still growing, shows that there's still vitality in the metro and a desire to access it as a job market. The fact that the city devolves to single-family homes almost immediately outside of City Center needs to be seen as the problem it is.

What a travesty the development situation in the city is. A declining central city and growing 'burbs is a big warning sign for the Metro. If there's not a strong core to the region, there's no reason for it to stick together. It's definitely a very concerning situation; the anti-developmentalist attitude here needs to change. I'm not saying to be "pro-developer", but development is essential.

I was using the term in a general sense, the building boom in Austin is directly related to the rapid population growth they have been experiencing for years which is also making their prices skyrocket. It would be nice to see a building boom for affordable housing with some high end residential happening in Portland to meet the demand without having to deal with the type of population growth that Austin is experiencing right now. I would rather see a conservative steady pace of population growth that is much easier to manage.

I fully agree with you that housing within Portland should be all in the form of townhouses, apartments, and condos rather than single family housing. The city should be focusing on strengthening the density in the core neighborhoods and increasing the number of affordable housing within the city to help reduce the amount of people being pushed out due to cost of housing.

So don't confuse what I said as being anti-development, since I have always been in favor of dense development in the city and in surrounding downtowns and around MAX stations and key bus routes.