The City of Portland ordains.
Section 1. The Council finds:
- Portland Permitting & Development (PP&D) promotes safety, livability, and economic vitality through efficient and collaborative application of building and development codes.
- PP&D administers Portland City Code (PCC) Title 24, Building Regulations, which provides minimum performance standards to safeguard the health, safety, welfare, comfort, and security of occupants and users of buildings and structures within the city.
- In October 2023, new language was added to R101.2.3 of the Oregon Residential Specialty Code (ORSC) to move “short-term rentals, vacation rentals and similar uses” outside the statutory authority of the ORSC.
- PP&D continued to regulate all structures used solely for transient lodging under the commercial building code (Oregon Structural Specialty Code) and provided transparency on this policy in a building code guide.
- In October 2024, the Oregon Building Codes Division formally informed PP&D that local regulation was required to enforce specific construction standards of the Oregon Structural Specialty Code.
- Consequently, PP&D seeks to amend Title 24 to authorize PP&D to regulate transient lodging and write administrative rules that establish minimum fire and life safety construction standards.
- This emergency ordinance directs that the effective date should be the date of approval.
NOW, THEREFORE, the Council directs:
- Add City Code Chapter 24.31 as shown in Exhibit A.
- As part of aligning City Code with the amended City Charter, Council adopted through Ordinance No. 191944 a revised Title 24 with an effective date of January 1, 2025. That revised Title 24 did not include Chapter 24.31. For the purposes of avoiding conflict, Exhibit A for the new Chapter 24.31 is intended to be effective from its passage and will be incorporated into the revised Title 24 on January 1, 2025.
Section 2. The Council declares that an emergency exists because it is in the public interest for these safety precautions to be enacted as soon as possible; therefore, this Ordinance shall be effective immediately upon its passage by Council.
Exhibits and Attachments
Impact Statement
Purpose of Proposed Legislation and Background Information
This ordinance amends Title 24 to formalize current practices regulating transient lodging. The proposed ordinance will maintain the fire and life safety measures currently enforced for small transient lodging facilities that do not have a permanent resident.
These buildings have been regulated by Portland Permitting & Development under the Oregon Structural Specialty Code, but recent changes in the state building code scoping require local regulation to continue to apply specific construction standards when a new transient lodging facility is built or when transient lodging use is established in an existing one- or two-family house.
Financial and Budgetary Impacts
This ordinance has no budgetary impacts and would not impact staffing levels.
Economic and Real Estate Development Impacts
There is no economic impact, as repurposed homes will continue to operate under the existing regulations for minimum fire and life safety requirements.
Community Impacts and Community Involvement
No community impacts are anticipated if the legislation is passed. The main purpose of this legislation is to maintain the existing regulatory framework by adding regulations to our local building code that were omitted from State Building Code as part of the revised 2023 Oregon Residential Specialty Code.
100% Renewable Goal
Not applicable
Financial and Budget Analysis
This ordinance has no fiscal impact. it formalizes the regulation of transient lodging and will not impact current staffing levels.