News
Do Oregonians Really Want Affordable Housing?
Opinion Piece from The Oregonian regarding solutions and choices surrounding affordable housing in Oregon.
“If 10 years from now we’re still lamenting the inability of low- and middle-income Oregonians to secure stable housing, it will be because we chose to have a smaller region designed for the wealthy instead of a larger one of shared prosperity.”
The Super Bowl and a Broken San Francisco: We all have heard about San Francisco's housing affordability crisis, and Eugene is working to make sure it Doesn't Happen Here. This article discusses the connection between zoning codes, housing affordability, and inequity.
Little Homes in Big Backyards: San Francisco's Housing Solution: The creation of accessory dwelling units as a partial solution to San Francisco's housing woes.
The Dark Side of a Tech Boom: Unlike San Francisco, Reno is a mid-sized city like Eugene. They haven't built enough housing to accommodate their recent growth, resulting in an increase in homelessness and families living in motels.
The poor are better off when we build more housing for the rich: The Washington Post reports on recent research that indicates that adding housing targeted at any income level can benefit low income families. Update: More from the Post on this.
What Smart Growth Advocates Get Wrong About Density
While not a recent article, this piece does a great job of summing up the difference between "density" and adding more compact development in a smart way.
“To increase density enough to make a difference, we don’t always need to maximize it. Much of the time, a moderate amount of human-scaled urbanism will be far more appropriate than a high-rise.”
Bringing affordability back to Portland's neighborhoods
Portland, like Eugene, is figuring out how it will grow in the future, with the added pressure of a housing affordability crisis. Portland Commissioner Steve Novick has a short article about the "Missing Middle" in housing in Portland, which is similar to the new housing types proposed by the South Willamette Special Area Zone.
“Middle housing is just as much about housing affordability and equity as accommodating growth and diversity of housing types. Part of housing affordability is, without a doubt, subsidizing the production of new affordable housing for people who earn below the median family income, and we must maintain our commitment to building subsidized housing. But another part of affordability is getting our zoning code out of the way of smaller, attached housing. We should provide as many housing types at as many price points as possible, and prioritize stable affordable rents.”
Blame lack of incentives, not land-use system, for housing crisis (opinion)
Want to lower housing costs? Increase the supply (opinion)
As we work to accommodate growth in Eugene and throughout Oregon, how do we ensure that we have an adequate supply of affordable housing, so that we all have good housing options? Oregon's land-use planning requires us to figure out how if we have enough land to build enough housing for everyone (in Eugene, that is a key part of Envision Eugene) but how to ensure that housing is affordable is a little murkier. The above op-eds have some thoughts on how to accomplish it.
“[Oregon’s planning system] does not say anything about “affordability,” and that is a gap the planning profession and others have long recognized.”
Will US Cities Design Their Way Out of the Affordable Housing Crisis?
Eugene has a lot of single family homes. We have a fair number of apartment complexes. But, like many places around the country, we are missing the middle category-- housing that is in between single family homes and apartment complexes in terms of scale, density and affordability. How to handle this is an active debate in Eugene.
“We used to build lots of in-between housing in this country: rowhouses, duplexes, apartment courts. In other countries, the middle is still the default.... But the United States stopped building this way decades ago.
The result, critics say, is huge unmet demand from millions of people whom our bifurcated housing supply doesn’t serve. ”
Decline of the Driver's License.
One reason why increasing walkability is so important is that few and fewer people even know how to drive.
“Among young adults, the declines are smaller but still significant—16.4 percent fewer 20-to-24-year-olds had licenses in 2014 than in 1983, 11 percent fewer 25-to-29-year-olds, 10.3 percent fewer 30-to-34-year-olds, and 7.4 percent fewer 35-to-39-year-olds. ”
Newer code suggestions for Eugene, such as in the proposed South Willamette Special Area Zone, have lower parking minimums than have been common in the past. Changing trends in driving habits indicate that this might be a good idea, as discussed in this article about the future of parking:
“We are, they say, on the cusp of a new era, when cities can begin dramatically reducing the amount of parking spaces they offer. This shift is being driven by a one-two punch of social and technological change. On the social side, people are increasingly opting to live in urban centers, where they don’t need—or want—to own a car. They’re ride-sharing or using public transit instead.
And technologically, we’re seeing the rapid emergence of self-driving cars. ”
A recent Register Guard opinion piece seems to feel that Eugene citizens should vote on if we want growth in the city.
The Problem with Too Much Parking
An article in the Washington Post discusses the link between increased parking supply and increased driving. Recent Eugene plans, such as the South Willamette Special Area Zone, call for reduced statutory parking minimums. This can only help with Eugene's climate change goals, which will require reducing the amount of miles-traveled-by car to be successful.
“These are all patterns consistent with a causal relationship. They don’t definitely prove one, but the researchers conclude they amount to “compelling evidence” that more parking is a cause of car use. Not the only cause, but a cause. Which, McCahill argues, should be enough to warrant cities reconsidering how they manage this stuff.”
