The metro area’s failure to build new housing during the Great Recession contributed greatly to the current housing crisis.

A big contributor to the shortage of housing in the Portland metro region is the fact that developers stopped building during the Great Recession even as population growth continued.

One of the striking pieces of information taken from a snapshot of the local economy the Portland Business Alliance released yesterday is that graphs show the phenomenon is happening again. New housing construction has tanked. (For an interactive version of this chart, click here.)

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