Gerard Mildner#

Gerard C.S. Mildner is a Professor Emeritus of Real Estate Finance at Portland State University’s School of Business Administration.1 He served as Academic Director of the PSU Center for Real Estate, where he led research and graduate education in urban economics, housing economics, and public finance.2

Mildner is one of Oregon’s most prominent academic critics of the state’s land use planning system. His research has consistently argued that Oregon’s urban growth boundaries, rent control policies, and inclusionary zoning requirements restrict housing supply and drive up costs. He has published extensively through the PSU Center for Real Estate Quarterly and external policy organizations.3

Background#

Mildner holds a B.A. in Public Affairs from the University of Chicago and a Ph.D. in Economics from New York University.2 He moved to Portland after graduate school in 1991 and initially taught at PSU’s School of Urban Studies and Planning before moving to the School of Business Administration.3

Key Housing Actions#

As PSU Center for Real Estate Academic Director#

  • Urban Growth Boundary Research: Co-authored “A Line in the Land: Urban-growth Boundaries, Smart Growth, and Housing Affordability” (1999), a Reason Public Policy Institute study arguing that urban growth boundaries reduce the supply of developable land, increase housing and land prices, and harm affordability.4

  • “Density at Any Cost” Report (2014): Published the first independent analysis of Portland Metro’s 2014 Urban Growth Report, arguing that Metro’s plan to accommodate all residential growth through increased density—without expanding the urban growth boundary—would substantially increase housing costs and make Portland the fourth most expensive metropolitan area in the country.56

  • Portland Inclusionary Zoning Critique: Argued before the Oregon Senate Finance Committee that Portland’s inclusionary zoning program functions as a 4.3% tax on housing development, driving up per-unit costs from $275,000 for standard projects to $450,000 for affordable housing projects. Urged the legislature to “clip the wings of the city of Portland” on inclusionary zoning policy.7

  • Opposition to Statewide Rent Control: Publicly opposed SB 608 and other rent control measures, arguing that capping rent increases dampens future investment in housing, inflates rents for unregulated units, and discourages mobility among tenants in rent-controlled units.89

  • PSU Center for Real Estate Quarterly: Authored numerous articles analyzing Portland-area housing market trends, including studies on the collapse of suburban housing production, the impact of urban growth boundary decisions on housing costs, and regulatory barriers to new construction.2

  • NAIOP Policy Advocacy (2025): Wrote in NAIOP’s Development magazine about a coalition of Oregon real estate organizations working to reverse policy changes from 2019–2022 that created roadblocks to housing affordability, noting that Portland Metro’s UGB had expanded by only 15% in acreage over 45 years while the region’s population grew 80%.10

  1. Portland State University Faculty Profile: Gerard Mildner ↩︎

  2. Portland State University Faculty Experts: Gerard Mildner, Ph.D. ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎

  3. Portland Tribune: Critic seen as land-use lightning rod (2014) ↩︎ ↩︎

  4. Reason Foundation: A Line in the Land: Urban-growth Boundaries, Smart Growth, and Housing Affordability (October 1999) ↩︎

  5. Portland Tribune: Expert: More density in Portland will drive up housing costs (2014) ↩︎

  6. Fidelity PDX: A retrospective of the 2014 paper “Density At Any Cost” ↩︎

  7. Oregon Business: SB 611 Opponents Urge Legislators to ‘Clip Portland’s Wings’ ↩︎

  8. Courthouse News Service: Oregon’s Hot Housing Market Spurs Calls for Rent Control ↩︎

  9. City Journal: Oregon Rent Control Bill: Impact On Housing ↩︎

  10. NAIOP: Bringing Portland Back From the Brink (Summer 2025) ↩︎

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