State secrets. Oregon's opaque laws regarding low-income housing

From KLCC Studios, this is Oregon on the Record. I'm Michael Dunn. Oregon has long been known as a progressive state that greatly cherishes freedom of speech and openness in society. So how come Oregon is one of the most opaque and secretive states in America when it comes to public records? Whereas other states like Washington and California are accommodating when it comes to requests from media and other organizations, Oregon is very tight-lipped, and perhaps nowhere is this more evident than how much and where the state spends money on low-income public housing. Today on the show, you'll hear from an Oregon-based ProPublica reporter who's discovered that a decades-old state law allows the state to hide any and all monies associated with public housing, and the fact that this lack of transparency can really hurt Oregon's efforts to build more of the type of housing it desperately needs. That's next on Oregon on the Record. According to a recent article, Oregon has a real problem when it comes to secrecy of how and where it spends money on public housing. Unlike almost every state in the nation, Oregon hides much of this information from any and all inquiries. Right now, you'll hear from a reporter who's written about this issue. Rob Davis, an investigative reporter with ProPublica based in Oregon covering things in the Pacific Northwest. Rob, it's great to talk to you again. Thanks so much for coming on.

Hey, thank you for having me.

Yeah. I enjoyed your article, which is titled, Oregon is spending more than ever on low-income housing. A state law keeps the details secret. Let's start with this. Give us an idea of how much Oregon spends on low-income housing.

Well, it's a lot. You know, we're really in a new paradigm here in Oregon under Tina Kotek as governor, who's made housing, building housing, one of her top priorities. A decade ago, the legislature gave $60 million to subsidize housing. It was called unprecedented. In the current two-year budget cycle, that's grown to more than $600 million. In the last five years, just state money, about $1.4 billion. Add in federal tax credits, and it's even more.

Yeah.

So we have those numbers, but let's get to the crux of your story, which is why can't we, you in the media and we in the public, why can't we learn more about how much the state spends on low-income housing and other details?

Yeah, you know, we started out just as, you know, doing what investigative reporters do, which is just kind of trying to get data, trying to get records from the government. In this case, it's Oregon Housing and Community Services, the state agency that... oversees the award of this money, which is used to make projects more affordable to to develop and lower the rent so they're affordable to people. And we started out with just this idea like we have seen that project costs are climbing. In the last five years, the cost of building an affordable apartment in Oregon has nearly doubled. And they are in Portland sitting with a high vacancy rate because the rents are competing with market rate apartments. And the homeless population is climbing. So let's just look at these. Let's get into it. Let's see what the nails