Multifamily News Update [07/09/26]
July 9, 2026
Michael Pierce

Multifamily News Update [07/09/26]

This week we are reviewing a couple of events that are important for the Multifamily Market including a proposal to convert vacant Portland storefronts into housing, leadership changes at Home Forward, a major waterfront redevelopment in Ridgefield, a lawsuit involving  Apartments.com’s payment platform, and two federal housing policy updates.

Welcome to Multifamily Marketwatch®, the podcast from HFO Investment Real Estate — the number one multifamily-only brokerage in Oregon and SW Washington by transaction volume for more than ten consecutive years, and a founding member of GREA, the Global Real Estate Advisors network.

We have a full house this week — ten stories covering Oregon, SW Washington and federal policy developments that affect every owner, investor and developer in our market.

A Portland architect wants to convert vacant storefronts into apartments — and the numbers are more interesting than you might expect. Portland’s housing authority is losing its second top executive in two months. The Port of Ridgefield is moving forward with a 41-acre waterfront development after a 30-year environmental cleanup. HUD is overhauling how $4 billion in federal homelessness funding gets allocated. And the National Association of Home Builders sent more than 1,100 people to Capitol Hill to push for housing production incentives.

That’s a lot of ground to cover. Let’s get into it.

We’re going to start with the most distinctive and genuinely novel story of the week — one that addresses two of Portland’s most persistent problems at the same time.

A Portland architect named Sebastian Guivernau — working through his project called ISEEPDX — has developed a concept he calls Storefront Living.  The idea is deceptively simple: instead of building new apartment buildings from the ground up, you install modular apartment units inside the vacant ground-floor retail spaces of existing apartment buildings. The units are constructed within the retail footprint, with a buffer between unit walls and the building’s exterior to create hallway corridors between apartments. And critically — they’re removable. If a landlord eventually wants retail back, the units come out.

The cost pencils out at roughly $200,000 to $250,000 per unit to build.

For context, ground-up construction in Portland typically runs $300,000 to $450,000 per unit. And because you’re working within existing space, Guivernau says the delivery timeline drops from the three-and-a-half to five years typically required for ground-up housing down to approximately six to nine months.

He has spent the past eighteen months assembling a development team that now includes GBD Architects and R&H Construction. They’ve spent much of the past year meeting with city staff on feasibility, permitting, zoning and building code considerations. The project is still in its conceptual phase — no pilot project has broken ground yet — but a development team of that caliber working actively with city staff suggests this is more than a thought experiment.

R&H’s director of business development, Adam Rainey, described the concept as a way to get revenue for landlords and bring life back to the street — and said the firm was drawn to it as a potential solution to get the city back to where it needs to be.

This story was reported by Sara Edwards at the Portland Business Journal.

Now, why does this matter for owners and investors? If you own a mixed-use building with chronic ground-floor retail vacancies — and there are a lot of those in Portland right now — this concept is worth tracking as both a potential revenue solution and a regulatory hedge. The city of Portland is simultaneously weighing a fee or tax on vacant storefronts. If that policy advances, the economics of adaptive reuse like Storefront Living shift meaningfully in the landlord’s favor. For investors underwriting mixed-use acquisitions, assumptions about ground-floor vacancy need to evolve if programs like this gain traction through Portland’s permitting process.

Next, some significant and troubling news from Home Forward — Portland’s public housing authority.

A little more than a month after CEO Ivory Mathews resigned under a cloud of controversy — following Willamette Week reporting on her expensive travel habits and management failures — Home Forward’s Chief Financial Officer, Kandy Sage, has also submitted her resignation. She exits on July 2nd.

That means two of the agency’s top four executives have departed within just a couple of months of each other.

Home Forward is not a peripheral agency.

It owns 7,000 low-income apartments and provides rent assistance vouchers to roughly 12,000 Multnomah County residents. The agency plays a vital role in the region’s subsidized housing supply — and it has been under severe financial stress for years. COVID-era nonpayment of rent, inflation-driven expense increases, and more than 900 vacant units have all compounded the problem. Those financial pressures made the previous CEO’s frequent absences from Oregon a flashpoint for the Willamette Week investigation.

A Home Forward spokesperson confirmed Sage’s resignation this week.

The circumstances around her departure were not immediately clear, nor is it known whether she will receive severance. Sage joined the agency in 2008 and had been managing its finances through some extraordinarily difficult years — the pandemic rent spike, the inflation surge and that chronic unit vacancy problem.

Willamette Week covered this story.

For owners and managers: if your properties have residents holding Section 8 vouchers, or if you have project-based contracts with Home Forward, this leadership transition creates real operational uncertainty. Two departures at this level in this short a timeframe warrant attention. Stay close to your property managers during this period and flag any unusual delays in voucher processing or contract communications.

Portland is moving to update its zoning code to bring it in line with recent state housing legislation.

The city released a proposed draft that would change what homeowners and small builders can do on individual lots across Portland. This follows a series of Oregon state housing law changes — most notably House Bill 2001, which legalized middle housing statewide — and reflects continued legislative pressure on Oregon cities to increase residential density.

The update was covered by Realtor.com.

For owners of single-family or transitional properties, this is worth paying attention to. Updated zoning may open new development pathways on lots that previously couldn’t support them — and it could meaningfully change the competitive landscape in neighborhoods where infill has historically been constrained. If you own property in Portland and haven’t recently looked at what your zoning allows, now is a good time to do that.

Some good news on the affordable housing development front.

The Housing Authority of Clackamas County broke ground this week on 200 new affordable homes at Clackamas Heights — one of Oregon’s oldest public housing communities — in a $124 million redevelopment project.

The new homes will be built in a cottage-cluster style: groups of four to twelve homes arranged around shared central green spaces. Floor plans range from one to four bedrooms, and the units will serve households earning up to 30% and 60% of area median income.

Funding for the project came from multiple sources.

The Metro Affordable Housing Bond contributed $17 million. Clackamas County HOME funds added to that, along with Oregon Housing and Community Services LIFT funds. The total development cost is $124 million. Construction is expected to be complete in fall 2027.

This was reported by Metro, the regional government.

For market-rate owners in the Clackamas County area: this new supply is targeted at income levels well below Class B and C market-rate apartments, so it doesn’t create direct competitive pressure. What it does signal is continued, serious public investment in Clackamas County’s housing infrastructure — which is generally a positive indicator for the broader submarket.

Moving now into SW Washington — and a story about a site that’s been off limits for decades finally becoming something.

The Port of Ridgefield is set to launch a sweeping 41-acre mixed-use development on port-owned land adjacent to Lake River beach in northern Clark County — about 25 miles north of Portland.

A little background on this site: it was contaminated for decades by Pacific Wood Treating, a company that used hazardous chemicals to pressure-treat wood products from 1964 until it closed in 1993. After the company went bankrupt, the port entered into an agreement with the Washington Department of Ecology and spent the next 30 years — and roughly $90 million — cleaning it up. We’re talking 24,800 gallons of liquid contamination and 1.54 million pounds of contaminated sludge removed from the area.

The waterfront property itself is now cleared for development.

And Portland-based Palindrome Properties Group has signed on as the master developer.

Plans call for 140 housing units, a boutique hotel with a ground-floor food hall, an outdoor green space and entertainment area, and a new office building for the port itself. Phase one construction is targeted to begin in late 2027, and the overall buildout is projected across 15 years.

Palindrome’s president, Robert Gibson, described the goal as tapping into the heart and soul of Ridgefield — extending the spirit of downtown to the waterfront and differentiating the new development from the corporate development happening closer to the highway. He specifically mentioned the challenge of balancing the needs of longtime Ridgefield residents with a city that’s grown explosively in recent years.

And Ridgefield has grown. Its population is expected to increase 4.6% this year alone. It’s one of the fastest-growing cities in Clark County. [PAUSE]

Not everyone is enthusiastic.

At an April city council meeting, residents raised concerns about infrastructure strain, wildlife impacts and whether development will erode the small-town character of the city. Tariffs and material costs are also cited by port staff as real uncertainties that could affect timelines.

Port Executive Director Ethan Perry said the project is expected to create between 40 and 80 construction jobs and around 340 full-time jobs once fully developed.

This was reported by Sara Edwards at the Portland Business Journal.

For investors watching the Portland metro’s northern expansion: this project is a significant signal that Clark County is entering a new phase of mixed-use infill development — on sites that simply weren’t available before.

Here’s a story that illustrates in real time what Portland’s development pipeline actually looks like right now.

In 2023, Portland-based Seneca Development Company purchased four adjacent homes on North Maryland Street in the Arbor Lodge neighborhood with plans to demolish them and build a 76-unit apartment building called The Pierson. The original timeline called for completion by 2025. That did not happen.

High interest rates, President Trump’s tariffs and city fees forced the project to pause. The homes sat vacant. And vacant homes in Portland tend not to stay quiet. Neighbors have been dealing with squatters, break-ins, violence, fires and repeated police calls ever since. Portland Police confirmed officers arrested a man at one of the homes last Friday after investigating a vehicle break-in. KGW video obtained from February shows one of the homes catching fire — police concluded it was human-caused.

What restarted the project? Portland’s System Development Charge waiver program — SDC waivers — which has been in effect since August 2025 and runs through September 30, 2028. [PAUSE] That waiver saved Seneca approximately $1.6 million on this project alone. Developer Michael Hamilton described SDC waivers as the single largest cost in a project outside of the project itself — and said without it, a project like this simply doesn’t move forward in today’s environment.

Here’s where things stand:

the building permit is currently under city review. Seneca has not yet paid the intake fees for demolition permits. Portland Permitting and Development has issued two citations against Seneca — one for an unsecured building and fence repair, and one for tall grass, weeds and trash. Deadlines for those nuisance violations are June 20th and June 23rd.

Hamilton said construction starts as soon as the building permit is approved.

KGW reported this story.

The takeaway for anyone considering development in Portland: SDC waivers are doing real work — $1.6 million in savings is not trivial. But permitting timelines remain the rate-limiting factor even after financing is restored. If you’re planning a Portland development, build current city review timelines into your underwriting and keep the SDC waiver window’s end date — September 30, 2028 — on your calendar.

Now a legal story that property managers using Apartments.com should hear about.

A class action lawsuit has been filed against CoStar Realty Information Inc. — the parent company of Apartments.com — in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington. The plaintiff, Jessica Divens, alleges that Apartments.com’s rent payment platform automatically added a $6.60 transaction fee to her rent payment — a fee that was not disclosed in her lease agreement. The lawsuit says the checkout flow auto-inserts the fee and then forces consumers to hunt for a way to remove it. The complaint calls it a classic junk fee that serves solely as a profit generator while providing no added value to consumers. [PAUSE]

The Federal Trade Commission has condemned exactly this type of practice — auto-adding fees at checkout that require active effort from the consumer to remove.

Divens is seeking to represent a nationwide class and a Washington state subclass of consumers charged these fees when paying rent on Apartments.com. She’s alleging unjust enrichment, tortious interference with contract and violations of the Washington Consumer Protection Act. The suit seeks a jury trial, declaratory and injunctive relief, and actual, statutory and treble damages.

The lawsuit was originally filed in the Superior Court for the State of Washington in Thurston County, then removed to federal court in May under the Class Action Fairness Act. It is case number 3:26-cv-05508 in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington.

In 2025, two consumers filed a similar class action against Greystar over allegedly illegal fees for pest control and trash services.

This was reported by Top Class Actions.

If your properties or management company uses Apartments.com’s payment tools, review whether your residents have been charged these fees. The underlying legal theory — undisclosed fees auto-inserted at checkout — is a live FTC enforcement priority and will continue to generate litigation across the industry.

Two more Oregon stories before we get to the federal items.

First — the Oregon Department of Justice has confirmed it is investigating Tiny Heirloom, a Portland-based tiny home company. KGW’s investigative team exposed dozens of lawsuits and complaints from customers who paid large deposits — in some cases $142,000 or more — for luxury tiny homes that the company simply never delivered. The DOJ confirmed its investigation roughly a month after Tiny Heirloom was evicted from its Northeast Portland building for failing to pay more than $153,000 in rent. The company’s co-owners, Jeremy Killian and Ryan Donato, are listed among Oregon’s highest delinquent taxpayers, now owing more than $428,000 in state taxes. Former customer Keith Krenz — who paid $142,000 for a tiny home in 2023 and has spent years in legal battles with the company — described the investigation as long overdue. Krenz and other customers told KGW they hope the investigation leads to refunds for undelivered or late-arriving homes. [PAUSE]

This is primarily a consumer protection story, but there’s a development angle:

anyone who has explored factory-built, modular or tiny home construction as a housing development strategy should treat this case as a reminder that manufacturer and builder viability requires serious due diligence before a deposit changes hands.

Second — and this is genuinely exciting for Oregon’s long-term housing construction trajectory — the University of Oregon and the Port of Portland celebrated a construction milestone this week at the Oregon Acoustic Research Laboratory at Terminal 2 — part of the Mass Timber and Housing Innovation Campus at the Port of Portland’s Terminal 2 facility. [PAUSE]

The lab is designed to test and validate mass timber construction for housing and commercial applications. Once complete, it will become the first NIST — that’s the National Institute of Standards and Technology — accredited acoustic testing laboratory on the West Coast for large-scale mass timber floor-ceiling assemblies.

The project received a $41.4 million Economic Development Administration grant, $3.2 million in 2026 federal Housing and Urban Development funds, $5 million from the Oregon Legislature and state matching funds. The UO is also working with Oregon’s congressional delegation — Representatives Bonamici, and Senators Wyden and Merkley — to secure $1.7 million in fiscal year 2027 congressionally directed funding. The lab is expected to open in 2027.

KMTR Eugene covered this story.

Mass timber is an important piece of Oregon’s long-term housing cost puzzle.

Broader adoption depends on reliable testing and performance data — that’s what this lab provides. For developers watching construction cost trajectories, a NIST-accredited testing facility on the West Coast could meaningfully accelerate mass timber adoption and affect construction economics across the region within the next decade.

Let’s close with the Big Pink update before we turn to the federal stories.

Nearly a year after Las Vegas auto magnate Jeff Swickard purchased Portland’s largest office tower — 1 SW Columbia Street, better known as Big Pink — for $45 million, his team has been working to reposition the building as the most attractive office space in downtown Portland.

Swickard, speaking on a panel hosted by the CoreNet Global Oregon Chapter this week alongside Unico director of real estate services Keren Eichen and LegitScript CEO Scott Roth, described the scope of what they’ve taken on. He said that when he bought Big Pink, 2,700 people reached out to him on LinkedIn with stories about the building — and he realized immediately how much it means to Portland.

The repositioning strategy is hospitality-first. Eichen described it as a white-glove service approach — creating a seamless path from the parking garage to office spaces, offering tenant perks like Blazers tickets, curating building events.

Scott Roth moved LegitScript’s offices to Big Pink from the Slabtown neighborhood in 2024.

He described the building as checking all the boxes — centrally located, ample parking, transit access, strong building security. He said it felt like a responsibility as a leader in Portland’s technology scene to open up and draw people in.

Swickard acknowledged that repositioning is taking longer than expected because it’s more complicated than expected. He said they’re realizing that people want to gather — and the building needs to accommodate space for potential tenants in ways that will be attractive. Some ideas being explored include tenant-only lounges and community rooms throughout the building, an observation deck and other public gathering spaces.

He was also candid about what the private sector can and cannot do alone: the city needs to support economic development and public safety for downtown Portland’s revitalization to fully take hold. He expressed support for the efforts of Portland Police Chief Bob Day and Mayor Keith Wilson.

This was reported by Sara Edwards at the Portland Business Journal.

Now let’s turn to the two federal stories we’re covering in this Oregon edition.

*Federal Story One: HUD overhauls $4 billion in homelessness funding*

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development issued a major $4 billion funding notice on June 1st that fundamentally shifts how federal homelessness grants work. The new framework moves away from the Housing First model — which prioritizes getting people into housing without preconditions like sobriety or treatment participation — and toward funding based on treatment outcomes, recovery and self-sufficiency.

HUD’s Caitlyn McKenney, deputy assistant secretary for the Office of Special Needs, told The Center Square that homelessness increased about 27% nationwide from 2013 to 2025, even as taxpayer-funded beds increased by about 151% and Continuum of Care spending grew by 111%. Her characterization: Housing First became housing only — and HUD will now fund providers based directly on outcomes they deliver rather than the number of beds they fill. [PAUSE]

The new rules mainly affect grants through HUD’s Continuum of Care program.

For Oregon: counties with federal CoC grants should expect similar pressure to shift their applications toward treatment and recovery outcome metrics. This is not hypothetical — HUD already blocked a similar funding shift last fall when courts ruled it came mid-grant cycle, so providers had some warning. This version appears structured to withstand legal challenge.

The Center Square reported this story.

*Federal Story Two: NAHB takes 1,100 advocates to Capitol Hill*

More than 1,100 builders, remodelers, and housing industry professionals descended on Capitol Hill this week as part of the National Association of Home Builders’ annual advocacy push. The delegation called on Congress to take action on housing affordability and production. [PAUSE]

Their key asks: expand the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit — known as the LIHTC — to fund more affordable housing construction. Create a new Middle-Income Housing Tax Credit, or MIHTC, to support workforce housing that falls above the income thresholds for LIHTC but is still out of reach for many buyers and renters. And establish new down payment assistance programs for first-time homebuyers, including a down payment tax credit for first-time buyers and a down payment tax deduction for home sellers who sell to first-time buyers at a loss.

The NAHB is also pushing to make the business expensing provisions of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act permanent — arguing that allowing depreciation of capital equipment matters for builders’ ability to invest in housing production. [PAUSE]

Federal housing tax policy is a critical variable for deal underwriting in 2026 and 2027.

The LIHTC and any new middle-income credit would directly affect the pipeline and feasibility of affordable and workforce housing projects across Oregon and SW Washington. Worth tracking closely as Congress moves through its budget and tax discussions this summer.

That is your Oregon and SW Washington Multifamily Marketwatch® for the week of June 9 through June 15, 2026. Ten stories — local, regional and federal.

I’m Michael Pierce, Senior Data Analyst at HFO Investment Real Estate. HFO is the number one multifamily-only brokerage in Oregon and SW Washington by transaction volume for more than ten consecutive years, and a founding member of GREA — the Global Real Estate Advisors network.

If you’re an owner, investor or developer with questions about what any of these stories mean for your portfolio or your next transaction, reach the HFO team at hfore.com or call (503) 241-5541.

HFO Investment Real Estate is Oregon’s and SW Washington’s leading multifamily brokerage by transaction volume.

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