Over the past several years, state and local governments have spent a lot of time, energy and money trying to solve Oregon's massive shortfall of housing.
"Oregon needs to develop more than 550,000 new housing units across income levels to accommodate 20 years of population growth and account for current underproduction," read a June 2023 press release from the Oregon Senate Republicans, some of whom were the sponsors of a bill, SB 1013, that allowed people in rural areas of the state to rent a portion of their land to someone living in an RV. The law would allow just a single RV (which could also be a tiny home on wheels) on each rural property.
That law went into effect Jan. 1. Since the passage of SB 1013, the Deschutes County planning commission took up the issue, looking at the pros and cons of approving such a program in Deschutes County. Surprisingly, that planning commission voted 4-3 against the plan, expressing concerns about traffic, road maintenance, wildfire threats and enforcing the code, among others. It's highly unusual for a planning commission to recommend denial, county staff told the Source Weekly, and now the Deschutes County Board of Commissioners is taking up the issue, with the idea that they may still bring it to a vote.
This is good news, because if any county in the state of Oregon is in need of a range of solutions to address our housing crisis and homelessness, it's Deschutes County. We remain one of the fastest-growing counties in the state — though due to the cost of housing and land around these parts, we no longer hold the top spot. That designation, as of 2023, fell to Crook County – a county that sees a lot of spillover from Deschutes, due to the high cost of housing and the higher availability of jobs around Bend and Redmond.
RVs and tiny homes are already being occupied as housing all around the county – and sometimes, when parked in an area without basic services, can lead to all sorts of safety concerns. RVs without access to reliable power often use propane to heat and cook. The high number of fires in RVs on public lands around Central Oregon demonstrates exactly what can happen when someone's off the grid and winging it, without safety measures in place. The type of program proposed and approved by the Oregon State Legislative Assembly, and signed by the governor, not only has safety stipulations in place, but also legalizes a vast population of people living in RVs and tiny homes who currently have nowhere else to go. Inside the city limits of Bend — where in recent years, the Bend City Council has also said "no" to allowing people to live legally in RVs on residential lands through its safe parking program — the only options are mobile home parks or RV parks, both of which can be booked solid and more expensive than renting a room in a house.
Yet all around the country, it's clear that the free market is in favor of tiny homes. Young people and even retirees with small amounts of savings and some sweat equity have found them a viable option for living affordably and independently. RVs, or even vans, meanwhile, for better or for worse, have become the only type of housing some folks can secure. In vast swaths of land in Deschutes County, people can slap up yet another McMansion and live in it by themselves or just with one other person, but heaven forbid if someone wants to use that land to support another family trying to get by. What's more, the City and County's current complaints-based system of enforcement only empowers NIMBYs to run the show. It's maddeningly classist.
The Deschutes County Board of Commissioners still has the opportunity to right the wrong decision of the planning commission, and to approve this land use in the rural parts of the county. And with that momentum, in the interest of "creating all types of housing," as they say they want, we hope the Bend City Council will follow suit.
—For more information on places for people experiencing houselessness to safely camp, either in their vehicles, RVs or temporary structures, visit: bendoregon.gov/government/departments/housing/houselessness-solutions/safe-parking
