BEND — The governor of Oregon sat down Wednesday for a video roundtable with editors and reporters of EO Media Group to discuss her goals for the state, including plans to increase housing availability, fix faltering schools and listen to the needs of Oregonians.

Gov. Tina Kotek kicked off the discussion, which was moderated by Bend Bulletin editor Gerry O’Brien, by mentioning that her view of needs around the state had been shaped in part by last year’s One Oregon Listening Tour, during which she met with community members in all 36 counties.

Kotek said among her top priorities this year is work to address Oregon’s homelessness issue and housing shortfall though Senate Bill 1537, a half-billion-dollar measure aimed at increasing affordable housing stock throughout the state.

“We are very close to seeing that come to a conclusion,” Kotek said. “It is a comprehensive proposal to bring a set of tools that we need to really improve our housing production across the state and all communities.  I heard it on my visits. Everybody has a housing problem.”

Another area of focus, Kotek said, was the state’s homelessness crisis. The governor noted that she had extended her declaration of a homelessness emergency for this year.

“The emergency order is still in effect,” she said. “We are focusing again on prevention, rent assistance, giving people a house so they don’t need to be served because they’ve lost their housing and then focusing on rehousing people who have gone into the expanding shelter systems that we’ve created to get stable, helping them get rehoused.”

Jayson Jacoby, editor of the Baker City Herald, asked the governor if she could suggest additional ways the state could reduce the protection rate that owners of forest and rangeland east of the Cascades pay for state wildfire protection through the Oregon Department of Forestry if new legislation meant to offset costs fails.

Kotek said she is focused on getting the legislation, House Bill 4133, passed during the current session.

“I think it is creating some solutions that we need right now, particularly the issue for property owners east of the Cascades on our rangelands,” she said. “The increase in the cost has been substantial, so at this point I’m working to get the bill passed.”

Troy Heie, editor of the Rogue Valley Times, asked Kotek about movement on safeguarding group home caregivers in light of two deaths that the Times reported on in 2023. Barbara “Bobbie” Kolada of Medford and Haley Rogers, who worked in Gresham, both died after being attacked in their group homes. Kolada worked in a home for people with developmental disabilities, and Rogers worked with patients at a treatment facility.

Kotek, who noted that she attended Rogers’ funeral and called the case “a very troubling story,” said, “No, we’re not doing a good enough job.”

The governor said state officials are “very focused on the issues around workforce safety,” but she noted that there can be no recruitment to fill positions in care facilities unless safety issues are addressed. 

“It is one of the reasons we have a such a workforce shortage in these really key roles,” Kotek said. “In addition to paying people more, to make sure they have salaries that actually work for them.

“Caregiver safety, worker safety for some of our most vulnerable people is a priority for us, and we’re going to have to come up with different ways to handle that. Some of that is pay, some of that is safety standards of the folks who have been licensed to do this work, and we have to hold them accountable to make sure they keep their workers safe,” Kotek said.

Isabella Crowley, a reporter for the La Grande Observer, asked Kotek about recommendations for housing production being considered in the Legislature and what ramifications they may have for Oregon.

“We’re going to have technical assistance grants and we’re going to have model codes for you, so local communities who are on the ground doing the work are going to be supported,” Kotek said. “That was a really important thing for a lot of folks. (We’re looking at) infrastructure investment and some of the things around workforce housing incentives. So we’re glad to see those in the bill.”

A group of young journalists from Central Oregon high schools asked the governor how she planned to remedy poor educational outcomes in Oregon public schools, which consistently rank at the bottom of the 50 states on overall performance.

Kotek admitted that reading numbers were “abysmal” and said a focus has been working with programs to bolster training for teachers in reading instruction. The governor said she is working to support early literacy, technical education and summer learning, in addition to pursuing better compensation for educators as a way to address the problem.

“I am committed to looking at the formula of how schools are funded, making sure we can modernize it and address the core functional needs of our districts, and that includes compensation for educators,” she said.

Kotek returned to the subject of housing, saying “Housing production is coordinated a little differently in every community.”

Kotek recalled visiting John Day last year and hearing a presentation on new 3D-printed home construction. She talked about the need for such novel approaches and the importance of local knowledge in addressing the unique needs of each community. 

“There is a lot of innovation going on,” she said. “So we need to do the regular sticks and bricks, and then we need innovation and we need all different types of housing options, and we have to make sure we meet what the community’s needs are … particularly rural and frontier communities. I really have to visit so I get a sense of the landscape and the size of the communities and meeting the individual needs of the communities — making sure that the tools that we’re putting on the table will actually meet those specific needs.”