191177

The City of Portland ordains:

Section 1.  The Council finds:

1. On behalf of the City of Portland, the Portland Housing Bureau (“PHB”) administers the Multiple-Unit Limited Tax Exemption Program (the “MULTE Program” or “Program”), authorized under ORS 307.600-307.637 and City Code Chapter 3.103.

2. The MULTE Program provides a 10-year property tax exemption on the residential portion of the structural improvements so long as Program requirements are met. During the exemption period, property owners remain responsible for the payment of taxes on the assessed value of the land and any commercial portions of the project, except for those commercial improvements deemed a public benefit and approved for the exemption.

3. The MULTE Program is an incentive provided to developments complying with the City Inclusionary Housing (“IH”) Program, which requires 99 years of restricted rents of a designated percentage of units within the building.

4. Ordinance No. 190760, passed by the Council on April 6, 2022, authorized a 10-year property tax exemption under the MULTE Program, in conjunction with the City’s Inclusionary Housing Program for the development known as Woodstock Apartments (the “Project”) and located at 5515 SE Woodstock Blvd (the “Property”). The application proposed three one-bedroom units, or 15 percent, of the Project’s 23 units would be restricted to households earning no more than 80 percent of Median Family Income (“MFI”) at the time of lease-up (the “IH Units”).  The developers of the Project have requested to amend their approved MULTE application in order to accommodate both a change in the unit type mix being built and a decrease in the Project’s total units from 23 to 20 total units as well as to adjust the Project’s IH option to include reconfiguration of the building’s IH obligation into larger unit types. The total number of IH Units has decreased compared to the initial application. The amended application proposes to restrict 15 percent of the total bedrooms in the Project to households earning no more that 80 percent of the MFI at the time of lease-up.  Using the reconfiguration option, one one-bedroom and one two-bedroom units, which is 10 percent of the Project’s total of 20 units, will be restricted to households earning no more than 80% MFI.

5. The MULTE Program has an annual cap limiting the approval of new property tax exemptions to no more than 15 million dollars of new estimated foregone revenue within a five-year period, defined as any current year and the previous four years. There is sufficient cap remaining for the 2023 calendar year to include the Project’s amended application.

6. PHB has the responsibility for reviewing compliance of approved applications with the minimum MULTE Program requirements and has concluded that the amended application for the Project does indeed meet the minimum Program requirements.

NOW, THEREFORE, the Council directs:

1. The amended request for a 10-year property tax exemption under the MULTE Program is hereby approved for 10 percent of the residential portion of the structural improvements of Woodstock Apartments, including 10 percent of residential parking and common areas.
2. Ordinance No. 190760 is amended as follows:
   1. The Project must restrict 10 percent of its 20 units to households earning no more than 80 percent MFI (the “Restricted Units”). The Restricted Units, through reconfiguration, will consist of one one-bedroom and one two-bedroom units.  
3. All other portions of Ordinance 190760 will remain the same.

Section 2.  The Council declares an emergency exists because timely City approval of the application for the MULTE Program is necessary in order to allow the Project to meet requirements to approve the building permit as outlined by the Bureau of Development Services; therefore, this Ordinance shall be in full force and effect from and after its passage by the Council.