Overview

LOSN believes that housing is a right, not a luxury. Housing is required for “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness”. We cannot preserve both tight restrictions and adequate housing for all as tight building restrictions lead to low supply and high prices. Our homelessness crisis and segregated neighborhoods are due to one thing: lack of affordable homes. To radically reduce the homeless population, we need to build more, smaller, affordable homes on existing lots within all cities.

Passing HB2001 in 2019 was a step in the right direction but it will take a decade to have a noticeable effect. There are so many more reforms which can improve the equity and sustainability of our city.

We encourage all to learn more about zoning and housing reform by exploring our Resources section below.

Goals

Remove codes and regulations which restrict density and lot usage, to provide a more sustainable and vibrant community. Allow missing middle and light commercial usage (ACUs) within all neighborhoods.

Projects

• Advocate for and support Boones Ferry Affordable Housing project. We have chosen to support this project and sent testimony to the planning commission and city council. Here is our testimony.
• Advocate for and support HB2001 — Legalizing missing middle housing.
• Creation of policy goals: we have a team working to create our “credo” regarding middle-income housing. We plan to publish our goals with specific policy recommendations.

Articles

• HB2001: Eight ingredients for a state level zoning reform 
• Planning without Plans (walkability principles) 
• Housing & Urbanism: Sightline Institute 
• Could You Move in Next Door?
• Strong Towns – What you need to know to be an effective advocate for change

Videos

• How the US made affordable homes illegal 
• The Case against Single Family Zoning 
• Why City Design is Important 
• The Lively and Liveable Neighborhoods that are Illegal 

Overview

Social equity, along with the environment and economic vitality, is one of the three pillars of sustainability. LOSN’s focus on diversity, equity and inclusion incorporates a strong social equity component.

Goals

Create a more diverse, equitable and inclusive community. Embed diversity, equity and inclusion in the LOSN organization.

Partners

• Respond to Racism
• Lake Oswego Library
• Hunger Fighters of Oregon

Projects

1. Collaborate  Candidate forums with Respond to Racism to sponsor Candidate forums
2. Work internally with the LOSN board to embed DEI thinking in LOSN activities and action teams.
3. Organize a quarterly reading group for LOSN and DEI action teams on topics relevant to DEI and sustainability

Areas of Interest

• Educate the community through partnership programs with the LO library.
• Develop relationships with other social equity groups and groups that represent non-dominate races (such as LO For Love, interfaith connections, Hunger Fighters, the Latinx community, and the Asian community)
• Promote dialogue between diverse constituents on thorny issues (such as race and low-income housing)

Overview

Our natural resources are integral to a sustainable society. We all depend on clean air and water and healthy ecosystems to support life. Our community needs to understand the impact of human actions on the environment and be responsible for taking action to protect and improve the natural systems that sustain us.

Healthy Natural Resources are an essential part of addressing climate change

Oftentimes when we think about climate change, we focus on reducing our dependence on fossil fuels. Yet human contribution to the rise in carbon emissions in the atmosphere is due not only to burning fossil fuels, but also to the impoverishment of nature’s ability to absorb carbon in soil, trees and other high-carbon ecosystems. The degradation of our lands, including the earth’s fertile agricultural soils, is in itself another massive disaster we humans face. By looking to nature, we can change this trajectory. Natural climate solutions – conservation, restoration, and land management activities – can help revive the environment’s ability to sequester and store carbon. Healthy soils are an intrinsic component of addressing climate change and cooling the earth.

Goals

1.  Support Natural Resources Goals and action items included in theCity of Lake Oswego’s Sustainability and Climate Action Plan by partnering with the city and the Oswego Lake Watershed Council (OLWC).
2. Protect and Enhance the Lake Oswego Urban Forest
3. Support the Natural Resource Management Plan for City of Lake Oswego Natural Areas.
4. Reduce the use of toxins (pesticides and herbicides) in landscaping.

• Oswego Lake Watershed Council (OLWC)
• City of Lake Oswego
  • Sustainability Advisory Board
  • Parks and Recreation Department
  • Parks and Recreation Advisory Board
  • Lake Oswego Natural Parks Friends Groups
    • Friends of Iron Mountain
    • Friends of Luscher Farm
    • Friends of Southwood Park
    • Friends of Springbrook Park