Salem, OR Accessory Structures: ADU Owner Occupancy (2026)

Oregon was the first state to broadly preempt municipal owner-occupancy requirements for ADUs. House Bill 2001 (2019), codified at ORS 197.312, bars cities of 2,500 or more population from conditioning ADU permits on owner-occupancy. Salem - with a population well over 175,000 - is squarely subject to the preemption. Salem Revised Code 700.007 contains no owner-occupancy requirement: a property owner can construct an ADU and rent both the main house and the ADU to separate long-term tenants without residing on the property. This represents a significant policy shift from earlier Salem practice, which (like many Oregon cities pre-2019) leaned toward owner-occupancy as a way to soothe neighborhood opposition to ADU production. The state preemption also blocks Salem from re-imposing owner-occupancy by future ordinance or by attaching it as a condition through a variance or conditional-use approval. Two limits remain. First, Salem's short-term rental rules prohibit using an ADU as a short-term rental at all (see the ADU rental-restrictions entry); SRC 700.007 specifically requires ADU tenancies of 30 days or longer. Second, private CC&Rs in Salem subdivisions with active homeowner associations (parts of West Salem, South Salem, and newer developments) may still impose owner-occupancy restrictions enforceable under ORS Chapter 94 (Real Property Development); state preemption applies to municipal rules, not to private deed restrictions. Long-term tenants are protected by Oregon's statewide rent stabilization (SB 608, codified at ORS 90.323 and 90.600) and just-cause eviction protections under ORS 90.427.