Democratic members of Oregon’s congressional delegation on Thursday announced a plan to alleviate homelessness and improve housing affordability through tax credits and construction subsidies.
U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden and U.S. Rep. Val Hoyle, of Oregon’s 4th Congressional District, introduced the Decent, Affordable, Safe Housing for All, or DASH Act.
The proposal would create a new down payment tax credit for first-time homebuyers, establish a tax credit for landlords who rent to low-income people and incentivize housing construction by providing more subsidies to developers that build housing units for low- and middle-income people.
“The housing crisis deepens every year in Oregon and across the country, dimming people’s dreams of homeownership and pushing more working-class families onto the street because they can’t cover rent,” Wyden said in a statement. “We’ve got to build a lot more housing for working class and middle class families, and it costs a whole lot more money to deal with all the repercussions of rising homelessness than it does to simply build the housing we need.”
There is an estimated shortage of 7.1 million affordable and available rental homes for families with extremely low incomes, according to the National Low Income Housing Coalition.
And Oregon is tied with California for having the second highest rate in individual homeless people, according to a new report from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Homelessness in the Beaver State increased by 19% between 2024 and 2025, according to the report, and state economists estimate Oregon needs to build nearly 30,000 housing units each year to emerge from its longtime housing shortage.
Wyden has introduced similar legislation in previous years, but this year’s iteration would make the first-time homebuyer tax credit available at the time of closing rather than requiring recipients to wait until tax filing to receive the down payment assistance. It also would let low- and middle-income people who sell their homes for less than their original price qualify for a tax deduction for the amount they lose on the sale for up to $100,000.
“While we’re building a lot of new housing, the new tax credit for first time buyers is an important opportunity to help a lot more people, particularly young families just starting out, achieve the American dream of homeownership,” Wyden said.
Oregon Capital Chronicle
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