A constitutional amendment that will make it easier to finance affordable housing in the state is a step closer to the November ballot after Oregon’s attorney general has written a proposed ballot title.

If approved by voters, the measure will enable local governments to sell bonds to help finance affordable housing projects by private businesses. The change should be approved.

The Legislature took the first step in this process in February, referring the issue to voters through House Joint Resolution 201. Technically, the measure would amend Article XI, Section 9 of the state constitution. That section, written in 1857, prevents cities, counties and other municipal corporations from investing in or lending credit to private businesses.

If it is approved, that will change, but only where affordable housing is concerned. The change would not give cities and counties the right to issue housing bonds as they see fit. Any bond measures would have to be approved by voters, with reports and audits of projects issued annually.

At the same time, such bond measures would not become get-rich-quick ways builders could put up housing at public expense, only to boost rents shortly thereafter. The federal government determines how long affordable housing must stay affordable, and currently it’s generally between 50 and 60 years.

Portland has already asked voters to approve bond measures that would help finance affordable housing. Portland’s $258 million bond was approved in 2016; it has not been spent because of Article XI.

It’s unlikely bonds will become the only way Oregon attempts to ease its affordable housing crisis, though they could become another tool for communities that support them.

Oregon has a more fundamental problem that hurts its ability to create more affordable housing. Oregon’s system of land use planning, with its tight urban growth boundaries around cities large and small, prevents them from expanding in the way they would without the boundaries. Those limits, in turn, drive the cost of development up further than it might otherwise rise.

Those two issues — land use planning restrictions and cities’ inability to become involved in financing affordable housing — put the state in a pickle. With only 25 housing units available for every 100 low-income families in Oregon, according to the National Low Income Housing Coalition, building out of the shortage is a nearly impossible task. That number, by the way, puts Oregon near the bottom among states in terms of available affordable housing, with more than only Arizona, Nevada and Delaware, the coalition says in a report released in March 2017.

Financing affordable housing is a complex task. A ballot measure based on HJR 201 won’t cure the problem, though it could mean more housing for Oregonians who need it most. The proposed ballot title can be found on the secretary of state’s website.