Equitable Housing Strategic Plan

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Garden Apartments

There is a concern among community members about the availability of high-quality affordable housing in Wilsonville. The City’s 2018 Community Survey indicated that only 38% of residents rated the availability of affordable quality housing as excellent or good. This percentage is lower than previous surveys in 2012 and 2014, when nearly half of those surveyed believed Wilsonville had sufficient affordable housing.

In response, Wilsonville City Council directed City staff to look into programs, policies, and potential legislative changes to address these concerns and to respond to changes in the housing market. An Equitable Housing Strategic Plan Task Force was formed to evaluate current data, consider public input, provide technical expertise, and develop policies and strategies to address the gaps in Wilsonville’s residential housing stock.

The result of this work was the adoption of the Equitable Housing Strategic Plan in June 2020. Please visit ci.wilsonville.or.us/housing to review the final plan and learn more about upcoming implementation actions.

Thank you for your input on this project!

There is a concern among community members about the availability of high-quality affordable housing in Wilsonville. The City’s 2018 Community Survey indicated that only 38% of residents rated the availability of affordable quality housing as excellent or good. This percentage is lower than previous surveys in 2012 and 2014, when nearly half of those surveyed believed Wilsonville had sufficient affordable housing.

In response, Wilsonville City Council directed City staff to look into programs, policies, and potential legislative changes to address these concerns and to respond to changes in the housing market. An Equitable Housing Strategic Plan Task Force was formed to evaluate current data, consider public input, provide technical expertise, and develop policies and strategies to address the gaps in Wilsonville’s residential housing stock.

The result of this work was the adoption of the Equitable Housing Strategic Plan in June 2020. Please visit ci.wilsonville.or.us/housing to review the final plan and learn more about upcoming implementation actions.

Thank you for your input on this project!

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Tell us why you chose Wilsonville as your home.


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  • Share Quality Education for my children on Facebook Share Quality Education for my children on Twitter Share Quality Education for my children on Linkedin Email Quality Education for my children link

    Quality Education for my children

    by SW39, over 6 years ago

    We moved here in 2012 so I could attend online nursing school. We could have lived anywhere in Oregon, but I chose Wilsonville because of the quality of the schools. Last week my twins who were at Inza Wood, then Wilsonville High, enrolled at University of Arizona in engineering and science majors. One of them has a $38,000/year engineering scholarship. The Wilsonville schools prepared them to succeed at the highest levels of endeavor in our country.

    We moved here in 2012 so I could attend online nursing school. We could have lived anywhere in Oregon, but I chose Wilsonville because of the quality of the schools. Last week my twins who were at Inza Wood, then Wilsonville High, enrolled at University of Arizona in engineering and science majors. One of them has a $38,000/year engineering scholarship. The Wilsonville schools prepared them to succeed at the highest levels of endeavor in our country.

  • Share Why I Live in Wilsonville on Facebook Share Why I Live in Wilsonville on Twitter Share Why I Live in Wilsonville on Linkedin Email Why I Live in Wilsonville link

    Why I Live in Wilsonville

    by Citizen A, over 6 years ago

    I live in Wilsonville because I was able to get low income housing here. That has made all the difference. Now my social security payment stretches to cover my monthly expenses instead of just covering rent. I can’t say how grateful I am for my housing situation.

    I live in Wilsonville because I was able to get low income housing here. That has made all the difference. Now my social security payment stretches to cover my monthly expenses instead of just covering rent. I can’t say how grateful I am for my housing situation.

  • Share Priced out of Portland on Facebook Share Priced out of Portland on Twitter Share Priced out of Portland on Linkedin Email Priced out of Portland link

    Priced out of Portland

    by Erica, over 6 years ago

    My husband and I have always been hard workers, both growing up on Oregon farms and going to college. We knew how to save money, be frugal, and at 23 I was making enough as a manager to buy a condo in downtown Portland. I thought I was too young and I would buy when I was ready to settle down. We both did Dave Ramsey as young college students.

    When it came time to settle down Oregon had changed. I no longer got jobs just by applying. My husband had been in the luxury tech design business in the... Continue reading

    My husband and I have always been hard workers, both growing up on Oregon farms and going to college. We knew how to save money, be frugal, and at 23 I was making enough as a manager to buy a condo in downtown Portland. I thought I was too young and I would buy when I was ready to settle down. We both did Dave Ramsey as young college students.

    When it came time to settle down Oregon had changed. I no longer got jobs just by applying. My husband had been in the luxury tech design business in the Pearl District, but was now working as a pizza delivery driver during the recession. We got a small house with a yard, he got two jobs, and then in 2014 rental prices increased dramatically. We went from paying $640 for a very small Victorian house in Oregon City to paying nearly $1100 in the only city with "affordable" rentals. Wilsonville.

    I wasn't sure about Wilsonville. I cried when we moved. I love historic homes and Wilsonville was very, shiny and new. There were mostly chain restaurants. We had been working like crazy to pay down debt, and with our cheap rental had paid off 45K with a low paying job and a pizza delivery job. We got creative using transit, riding bikes, no t.v. or internet. We had dreams of owning a home but I didn't see that happening in Wilsonville. It felt like a place we could live in for now, but eventually we'd have to leave and I didn't want to get attached.

    Of course I did. We have been here almost 5 years now and I can't imagine a better city for our family. We are involved in our community, my son walks to his school, and we have build a number of solid friendships. We lucked out with timing and managed to get an inexpensive rental at an expensive apartment complex which saved us money. I didn't need to drive my son to school each day.

    But we still dream of owning a home. If we want to stay in our neighborhood we are looking at paying more per month for a smaller condo than what we rent now. Not that we qualify. With three kids in a two bedroom I often wonder how long our downstairs neighbors will cope. Above us a couple merely walking to their kitchen pounds above us all day long. We knew everything they do, just like the neighbors below us. The kids had to learn not to run, not to walk around too much; A far cry from my husband and I who grew up running around in fields all day. There are no three bedrooms in the city we can afford, and at our complex our rent would increase by $600 a month. My husband now works four jobs. He works his main tech job fifteen minutes away, comes home for an hour and then drives to wash dishes getting off work around 11:30pm. He comes home and get's up at 5am to do it all over again. On weekends he does tech support for a company out of San Francisco and then picks up computer gigs online. He gets several job offers each week from other states and we often wonder if we should just leave to get out of the low pay and high cost of living here. But we come from several generations of Oregonians. We'd both be leaving our families, and we love the Pacific Northwest. Our lives are here.

    Right now there is a large gap in Wilsonville. There are no starter homes, just condos for older financially stable couples who are downsizing or starter homes for singles or two working professionals with at least one high paying job. We would gladly take an inexpensive small home the size of our apartment (1,000) and a simple life, but that doesn't exist anywhere. Or an old fixer upper that requires a lot of work. That also doesn't exist. There are a few mobile home parks.

    We are surrounded by people who say "live frugally" when everything we buy is secondhand or free. Or people who say "get an education" when we both have extensive college education and lots of experience. Both of us have been told we are overqualified for jobs. We are told "work hard and it will pay off" but cost of living has only gone up, surpassing wages. My husband is not able to give more to his job because he is always working and always tired.

    More apartments were supposed to be built nearby, but wealthy home owners no longer wanted them built. It would lower their home values. It's hard to have a village feel when you don't want the middle class villagers. Our monthly costs to live here went up almost $200 this last year.

    That all said I know we are so blessed. At least we have jobs. We have enough food to eat and live in a wonderful area. We have healthcare and our kids are thriving and healthy. We have plenty of room and my husband makes good money doing something he loves. We just don't feel it should take middle class people 3-4 jobs to buy a home. We want to be able to save money for emergencies and build wealth through our hard work. We want to be able to give more financially to people in need and the community.

  • Share 2 bedrooms 1 bath on Facebook Share 2 bedrooms 1 bath on Twitter Share 2 bedrooms 1 bath on Linkedin Email 2 bedrooms 1 bath link

    2 bedrooms 1 bath

    by Cberk, over 6 years ago

    I love in Wilsonville because of the location to I-5, and the school district. I started at apartments on Rose Way. Two bedrooms two baths on the fourth floor.i could barely afford it but it was close to Boeckman Creek and it was available, also the lease terms where reasonable. After our first year there ,the rent increased and it was no longer affordable. My son had started kindergarten and we moved to my mom's house in Hubbard. We finally found a two bedroom one bath room second floor apartment on SW Bailey. The rent was 700 + about 150... Continue reading

    I love in Wilsonville because of the location to I-5, and the school district. I started at apartments on Rose Way. Two bedrooms two baths on the fourth floor.i could barely afford it but it was close to Boeckman Creek and it was available, also the lease terms where reasonable. After our first year there ,the rent increased and it was no longer affordable. My son had started kindergarten and we moved to my mom's house in Hubbard. We finally found a two bedroom one bath room second floor apartment on SW Bailey. The rent was 700 + about 150 for water sewer and garbage. Rent has increased by about $100 dollars a year.wr now pay 1025. My mom lives with my son and myself. She shares his bedroom , and we only have one bathroom. We pay about 40-100$ dollars a month to do laundry in the coin operated machines $2.00/ load. We have to lug our laundry to the rooms down a slippery flight of stairs. We have had next door neighbors who had a domestic violence incident every night. Another neighbor below us who constantly complained about any noise we made after 5 pm. Our apartment needs mold treatment , and we can't get management to replace our toilet. We had issues with our refrigerator, oven, dishwasher and the aforementioned mold. We have had a "no cause " eviction in 2005. Because of this we live in constant fear of another ”no cause ” eviction.

    We would like to move but the cost is prohibitive. Because I have outstanding student loan debt that prevents me from getting a mortgage, and because there are no "starter" or rentable "single family units" this life long Oregonian is looking for homes outside of the state.