Hood River City Councilors reached consensus on approving strategies dealing with creating more affordable workforce housing, sending them on to municipal staff to begin to develop proposals for making them happen.  The Council dealt with three different areas, including increasing the efficiency of land use within the Urban Growth Boundary, developing affordable housing, and regulating and managing short-term rental housing.  A large part of the discussion centered on short-term housing, with one strategy calling for an evaluation of options to limit the number of short-term rentals.  Mayor Paul Blackburn says it was the hardest question to deal with, adding they don’t want to take away what already exists but they do want to retard future growth.  City staff will now work on studying options to implement the strategies, and will bring them to the municipal planning commission and the Council over the next few months.