Zimmerman’s Current Housing Assessment for Portland
By Aaron Kirk Douglas, HFO Investment Real Estate
Portland City Councilor Eric Zimmerman shared his current housing assessment. He’s not ready to declare victory, but he does see something worth noting: the numbers are moving in the right direction. Zimmerman, who represents District 4 and chairs the city’s Housing Committee, sat down recently with HFO partner Greg Frick for a wide-ranging conversation on Portland’s housing market, city governance, and what it will take to bring outside investment back to one of the country’s most politically complicated metros.
Permit Applications Climbing After a 50% Drop.
Multifamily permit applications in Portland fell by roughly 50% over the previous two years, a figure Zimmerman called alarming for any city. But the October data he reviewed as part of the Housing Committee showed a year-over-year increase, the first sign that the decline may have reversed.
“It’s nothing to celebrate yet,” Zimmerman said. “But if that’s the case in a couple more quarters, I’ll feel good.”
He tied the uptick directly to the city’s decision to waive system development charges, or SDCs, for new residential development. The SDC waiver program, which Zimmerman helped shepherd through the finance committee he chairs, launched with a three-year window and a goal of 5,000 units. As of the interview in late March, nearly 2,000 units were already in the pipeline. SDCs can run $20,000 to $60,000 per door. On a unit costing $250,000 to $300,000 to build, that savings can make the difference between a project that pencils and one that doesn’t. Zimmerman acknowledged that SDC waivers are not a permanent tool, and called them a bold move for a crisis moment, one that signals to the development community that Portland is at least trying to pull the right levers.
Downtown: The Biggest Conversion Opportunity in the Region
Zimmerman pointed to downtown Portland as an underutilized canvas for residential development. The core district, built around a traditional separation of office and retail uses, lacks the residential mix that has allowed neighborhoods like the Pearl District and South Waterfront to recover post-pandemic. His pitch is straightforward: the city should stop protecting that separation and start saying yes.
“We should be the city of yes,” he said. “When a good idea comes across the permit desk, we shouldn’t have any land use plans on the table that say no to it.”
The Broadway Corridor project, centered on the former post office site adjacent to the Pearl District, represents the kind of mixed-development model Zimmerman envisions. The city is in the process of funding workforce-affordable housing on the site while positioning remaining parcels to attract a major headquarter-type employer. The development agency Prosper Portland is managing the effort. Zimmerman’s broader argument is that downtown’s recovery depends on people, not just office occupancy. More residents mean more activity, more safety, and more demand for the ground-floor retail that makes an urban district function.
Portland Ranked 80 Out of 81 Investment Markets
One of the sharper moments in the conversation came when Zimmerman acknowledged where Portland stands among institutional investors.
“When Portland is 80 out of 81 markets for investment, that should scare the hell out of us,” he said.
He is not wrong. Portland’s housing deficit, like most American cities’, traces back to the 2008 financial crisis and has never fully recovered. The city needs roughly 20,000 new units, a scale that cannot be financed with local capital alone. Zimmerman said developers who work with outside investors are telling him clearly what those investors want: stability and a visible growth trajectory. Not perfection, but predictability.
“They can see it coming. It might be stalled right now, but they want it coming,” he said.
That is why, in his view, stable governance matters as much as any individual policy. Portland’s new city council, which took office under a redesigned form of government, has had a rocky first year. Zimmerman was candid about that. The entire 12-member council entered office simultaneously with no institutional memory, no senior members to provide continuity, and, as he put it, no sophomores, juniors, or seniors in the room. The result was a governing body prone to symbolic gestures and reactive decision-making. Zimmerman did not name colleagues directly, but referenced late-night budget maneuvers and defunding efforts he characterized as show rather than substance. He said he hopes the second budget cycle, beginning this spring, reflects a more measured approach.
City Council Growing Pains May Be Easing
The learning curve has been steep. Zimmerman said he has had conversations with fellow councilors who did not understand why the county, not the city, is responsible for homelessness services or why the Joint Office of Homeless Services was created. He also observed that some members appear to be governing primarily from their provider networks rather than from an understanding of governmental roles.
His own takeaway from year one: coalition building and second-order thinking matter more than headline-grabbing. Governing, he said, requires understanding the story underneath the headline before chasing the headline itself. Whether that lesson is taking hold across the council remains to be seen. Zimmerman said he is hopeful but watching.
The Fundamentals Still Favor Investment in Portland
What Zimmerman wants investors to hear is that the conditions they complained about most, visible disorder on downtown streets, RV encampments in residential neighborhoods, the failed drug decriminalization experiment under Measure 110, are being addressed. He said RV camping has been largely cleared citywide. Measure 110 has been unwound. Downtown feels different than it did two years ago.
“Come see it,” he said. “It looks better than the last time you were here.”
For rental housing investors and developers, the question is whether these improvements hold and whether city governance stabilizes enough to support the sustained development Portland needs. Zimmerman does not oversell the progress. He frames it as a platform, not a conclusion.
The SDC waiver is an opening offer to the development community. The permit data suggests it is being heard. What happens over the next two to four quarters will tell the more important story.
Greg Frick’s full interview with Eric Zimmerman is available on HFO’s Multifamily Marketwatch video series on YouTube.