Amazon.com is partnering with prefabricated homebuilder Plant Prefab to design houses that incorporate Alexa-enabled devices and other Amazon smart-home technology into the very walls of the house. It's not so much that Amazon wants to build your home as control its connectivity. Amazon, Alphabet's Google, and Apple are engaged in a battle for smart speaker supremacy. Amazon ... Read more

This year's election has many highly contested races and hot-button measures, but most lawmakers on both sides of the aisle seem to agree that Measure 102 should pass. The statewide ballot measure, if approved, would amend Oregon's constitution to allow local jurisdictions' bonds to be used to fund affordable housing projects with private and nonprofit groups. Read more (from ... Read more

By the time MAX trains start to wind their way through Southwest Portland, some residents think they'll be long gone. But the city released a plan Thursday for trying to keep them in the neighborhood, a rare haven for affordable rentals. It calls for buying up apartment buildings that provide low-rent housing and banking land for future affordable housing developments. A new ... Read more

It's been nearly 30 years since the city of Ashland last updated the housing part of its comprehensive plan, which sets forth long-range policies and provides guidance for a community's growth and development over time. A city committee has been working on an update and has assembled a draft of what's known as the "housing element," which the council agreed Monday should ... Read more

A decline in projected growth numbers has the city of Talent backing away from adding as much as 109 acres to its Urban Growth Boundary and looking at ways to utilize lands inside city to accommodate housing needs. Future home buyers may find smaller lots, and more accessory dwelling units might be created as a result of the change, because state land-use law requires the city ... Read more