The Deschutes County Commission sees potential in allowing rural property owners to rent out recreational vehicles to long-term tenants, a rule change that could provide up to 12,500 new units of affordable housing.

But how it will take shape is not clear.

Eight months after formal discussions over RV rentals began at the county level, questions remain about fire safety, code enforcement, permitting costs and others. The planning commission in January recommended not allowing rural RVs.

Now, county staff is working to prepare a range of rule changes for the County Commission, which will decide how restrictive RV living should be — and if it should be allowed at all.

In an effort to boost rural housing stock, a 2023 state law, Senate Bill 1013, created a framework for Oregon counties to rent out RVs on land outside city limits. Deschutes County would become the second county in the state to do so, after Clackamas.

“We don’t have a lot of perspective or context,” Peter Gutowsky, community development director with Deschutes County, said in a meeting on Monday.

If the county were to adopt the state’s minimum requirements for RV dwellings, the code changes would qualify about 12,500 properties in Deschutes County to host livable RVs, meaning just as many could become new housing units.

Qualifying properties must be at least 1 acre in size and located in one of two areas: on county land zoned rural residential or in residential zones inside an urban growth boundary but outside city limits.

Deschutes County approved rule changes in November allowing accessory dwelling units, or ADUs, a move also intended to add rural housing stock that impacted thousands of properties. That was allowed by a 2021 state law.

Gutowsky said permit applications since ADU approval indicate a “significant interest” in adding the units to rural lands.

A 2020 housing needs study estimated rural Deschutes County will need an additional 7,000 housing units by 2043 to accommodate growth. Oregon needs 550,000 housing units across the state in the next 20 years, according to the Oregon Department of Land Conservation and Development.

RVs are a good option for people at risk of homelessness, said County Commissioner Phil Chang.

The county’s code enforcement department has 78 open cases of people living illegally in RVs. Passing new code changes would alleviate about half of those cases.

But setting up a permit process for new RV dwellings would also create more work for a department already overburdened with cases, which are up 21% since last year. Each of the department’s four officers are managing 124 violations across 68 properties, according to a memo from the department.

“I think this is a very important opportunity to provide needed housing in our community,” Chang said. “But in order to be able to do this, we need to be able to expand code enforcement capacity.”

And for property owners who choose to pursue a permit, the costs will be substantial. Sewer system installation alone could cost $30,000, according to a community development report.

“We want to do something that’s affordable for people, but when you start adding up everything, the costs are really out there,” said County Commissioner Patti Adair.

Costs to make RV a legal living space likely wouldn’t eclipse the burden for those interested in ADUs, which can run anywhere from $80,000 to $400,000, according to the Bend Chamber of Commerce.

Adair believes high costs to permit RVs will be more likely to deter rural residents from the process because renting out the vehicles won’t provide the same return on investment as ADUs. She fears RVs may even hurt property values rather than raise them.

In public hearings, rural fire district officials expressed concern that new RV dwellings would add a burden to their service areas without contributing enough tax revenue. Thad Olsen, chief of Cloverdale Rural Fire Protection District in Sisters, suggested a yearly fee on RVs for emergency services.

Other concerns from the public include impacts to wildlife, threat of wildfire and that an influx of RVs would compromise the rural character of Deschutes County.

Chang said RVs, if properly permitted and enforced, wouldn’t become the nuisance the public might associate with unlawful RVs. He acknowledged the high costs, but said that barrier didn’t stop the commission from approving rural ADUs last year.

“Creating structure around this, I think it’s actually a way to invite investment, philanthropic or public investment, into producing more housing units,” he said. “But if there’s no legal way to do it, nobody’s going to give you any money for it.”

Read more: County to consider allowing rural residents to rent out RVs

Read more: Rural ADUs will soon take shape in Deschutes County, part of the solution to housing woes