Public policy tends to hyper focus on specific areas of people’s lives - whether health, economic stability, housing, etc. - as if each aspect of our lives exists in a vacuum separate from everything else. People need a lot of different needs met all at the same time in order for them to succeed and thrive. Public policy is starting to recognize the importance of those interdependencies and how they collectively contribute to people’s well-being, and that creates new opportunities for partnership and collaboration across public and private sectors.

Lack of affordable housing is an issue across the nation that is impacting the economic stability of individuals, families, and whole communities. Zoning is often blamed as one of the key barriers to building more homes. The state of Oregon is on the cusp of implementing a major, innovative change in zoning law that could help address the problem.