Many people who are not in the weeds of often obscure and nerdy housing policy do not know about Governor Kotek’s housing record.
As Speaker of the Oregon House in 2019, she was responsible for HB 2001. That was a first in the nation bill that received significant bipartisan support – and some opposition. It’s the kind of policy that will pay dividends for decades, well after even a second term for governor Kotek ends.
Doing things because they’re right, even if they don’t provide instant and visible payoffs is real leadership in our book.
We are seeing more of the results of this legislation here in Bend: https://bendbulletin.com/2025/12/13/middle-housing-slowly-densifying-bend-neighborhoods/
As Governor, Kotek has continued to focus on housing, passing more legislation, including HB 2138 in 2025 that YIMBYs went to Salem to advocate for: https://bendyimby.com/2025/03/04/yimbys-go-to-salem/
YIMBYs across the country talk, and we think Governor Kotek has been one of the best governors on housing. Some have signed good bills, Kotek has been a consistent leader in shaping them and getting them over the finish line.
There’s still a lot of work to do. Oregon’s landmark land use rules that Governor Tom McCall and the Oregon legislature enacted all the way back in 1973 did a pretty good job of preventing sprawl, but didn’t do enough to make sure we could build “up and in”. Paired with 100 years of exclusionary zoning, our housing shortage grew over the years, until it could no longer be ignored.
Just as it took time to get really bad, it won’t be fixed overnight. It’s going to take a steady hand, and as above, kind of nerdy leaders who understand the details of housing policy in order to keep making progress. It’s going to take someone willing to keep pushing bold reform.
Which is why we are excited to endorse Tina Kotek for Governor!
