What the Kotek Bill in Oregon Cities Means For Manufactured Homes

Oregon has spent decades treating urban growth boundaries like guardrails: hold the line, protect farms and forests, and push cities to grow smarter instead of wider. Now, Governor Tina Kotek is asking lawmakers to loosen those guardrails again, but with a very specific target.

House Bill 4082 would allow cities to add land to their urban growth boundaries for one purpose: to build housing for Oregonians age 55 and older or to create new manufactured home communities.

It is a small policy change with a big emotional hook, especially for older residents watching housing costs outpace their fixed incomes.

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What House Bill 4082 Would Do

HB 4082 builds on a 2024 housing law, Senate Bill 1537, that created a temporary, streamlined option for one-time additions to urban growth boundaries. The new bill adds a focused new pathway: cities can expand their boundaries specifically to support affordable senior housing and manufactured home communities.

• Target housing types: housing for people age 55+ and manufactured dwelling parks/communities
• Land added: up to 50 or 100 acres, depending on city size
• Affordability goal: intended to support housing affordable to households at or below 120% of the area median income
• Sunset date: the program provisions sunset on January 2, 2033

The through-line is clear: the bill is not trying to open the floodgates for general development. It is trying to create a narrow on-ramp for housing types that are often harder to build inside existing boundaries.

Why Kotek Is Pushing This Now

In testimony supporting the bill, Governor Kotek argued that many older Oregonians are closer to housing insecurity than people assume. When rents rise faster than retirement income, one unexpected expense can tip the whole budget over.

The pitch is straightforward: make it easier for cities to create places where people can age in place with stability, while also increasing access to lower-cost manufactured housing.

The Manufactured Home Angle: Fast, Lower-Cost Supply

Manufactured housing shows up in HB 4082 for a reason. It is one of the few housing types that can be scaled relatively quickly and at a lower price point than many traditional builds. Supporters argue that if Oregon is serious about affordability, it needs more options than just hoping market-rate apartments trickle down.

The governor’s office has framed manufactured home communities as a way to create naturally lower-cost housing that still supports long-term stability, especially when paired with thoughtful site planning and access to daily needs.

The Big Caveat: Growth Boundaries Are a Third Rail in Oregon

Urban growth boundaries are not just lines on a map. In Oregon, they are a philosophy. They shape infrastructure costs, commute patterns, farmland protection, and what kinds of neighborhoods get built. That is why even a limited expansion proposal can trigger strong reactions.

Critics worry about:

• Sprawl creeping outward in the name of a worthy cause
• New infrastructure costs (roads, water, sewer) landing on cities and taxpayers
• Precedent: if it happens once, it becomes easier to justify again

Supporters respond with:

• Strict limits on what can be built on the added land
• A targeted focus on seniors and manufactured housing rather than broad development
• The reality that infill alone has not met the scale of Oregon’s housing need

Why This Debate Feels Different Than a Typical Housing Bill

A lot of housing policy arguments get stuck in abstractions: zoning, production targets, timelines, and unit counts. HB 4082 is likely to land differently because it is explicitly tied to people who are already rooted in their communities.

This is less “where should Oregon grow?” and more “what happens when someone who has lived here for decades cannot afford to stay?” The bill is an attempt to answer that question with a tool Oregon rarely uses: carefully expanding the map.

What Happens Next

HB 4082 is moving through the Oregon Legislature during the 2026 short session. If it passes, cities would gain a temporary option to add land to their growth boundaries for qualifying projects under program rules and timelines. If it fails, Oregon will continue leaning primarily on infill, redevelopment, and zoning reforms to meet affordability goals.

Either way, the bill spotlights a key tension Oregon is still trying to resolve: how to protect the landscapes that make the state special while also making room for people who are being priced out of the places they call home.

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Quick Takeaway

House Bill 4082 would let Oregon cities expand their urban growth boundaries again, but only for two housing types: manufactured home communities and 55+ housing. It is a targeted attempt to increase affordability for older and working-class Oregonians, while keeping boundary changes limited and time-bound.