PORTLAND — A bevy of top political, business and academic leaders across the Pacific Northwest will convene in Portland this week to promote efforts that they hope will dramatically accelerate housing creation in the region. Organizers of the Cascadia Innovation Corridor initiative estimate that Oregon, Washington and British Columbia currently face a combined housing shortage of up to 1 million units over the next two decades. The group’s annual conference seeks to establish a set of regional strategies aimed at closing that gap. Those include everything from permitting consolidation to increased financial incentives for developers and emerging technology that can help slash bureaucratic red tape. …Conference participants will also be able to tour a production facility for mass timber. The Oregon timber industry and political leadership have touted mass timber for years as an opportunity to revive the fortunes of rural communities around the state with homegrown building materials.