Two-Thirds of Portland-Area Elected Officials Aren’t Happy With How Metro Handles Land for Housing

That's not great news for the agency's $653 million housing bond measure.

Clackamas River House bed and breakfast in Oregon City (Christine Dong)
By Nigel Jaquiss

Seventy percent of elected officials in the three-county metropolitan region who ranked the regional planning agency Metro either "fair" or "poor" at one of its core responsibilities: "ensuring an adequate supply of land for homes through management of the urban growth boundary."

The number comes from the results of a poll Metro commissioned from DHM Research and quietly released last month.

As Metro promotes the $653 million housing bond measure it placed on the November ballot, one group it will need to cultivate is the region's elected officials and their constituents—and convince them that putting Metro in charge of a new regional housing strategy is a good idea.

That may prove tricky. Only 1 percent of officials ranked Metro's management of the UGB as "excellent" while 24 percent called it "very good."

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housingMetroMetro housing bondNovember 2018 electionportland housingUrban Growth Boundary

Nigel Jaquiss

Nigel Jaquiss

Reporter Nigel Jaquiss joined the Oregon Journalism project in 2025 after 27 years at Willamette Week.

Willamette Week’s reporting has concrete impacts that change laws, force action from civic leaders, and drive compromised politicians from public office.

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