If you want a primer on just how bad Oregon’s housing crisis is, a state of the state’s housing report counts the ways.

The report shows housing prices have raced ahead of gains in wages. About 53% of Oregonians had enough household income to afford a home in 2013. In 2023, it was down to 29%. The median sales price of a home went up by $7.10 for every dollar of wage increases in that time period.

Most renters and a third of homebuyers spend more than 30% of their income on housing. And 27% of renters spend more than 50% of their income on housing.

The reality can be worse for minorities than the population as a whole. The reality can drive people into homelessness. Adjusting for population, Oregon ranks third in the nation for people experiencing homelessness, behind only New York and Vermont.

A bright spot in the report is that the state’s population growth may be slowing and there has been some decline in mortgage rates. But what’s one reason fewer people are moving to Oregon? People don’t come here because of housing prices.

As we got to the end of the report, we kept hoping for suggestions on how Oregon was going to turn this around. That wasn’t there. That’s not the purpose of the report. It does set the stage for the next legislative session when lawmakers will be considering Gov. Tina Kotek’s initiatives and their own for housing.