01/25/1978 Meeting - Laserfiche WebLink

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e Mr. Whitelaw said, however, these implications were incomplete until Council looked at the housing supply. He directed Council to page 12, Table 5, high and low forecasts of housing demand for Eugene in 1985, in which the demand was contrasted to projected capacity. He said the . capacity was different from the actual amount of housing the market would supply. He noted if Eugene's stock of used housing and construction of new housing are to satisfy Eugene's demand for housing in 1985 and beyond, and if Eugene's boundaries remain unchanged, then either the residential mix or density or both will have to change from their 1976 levels. He said there would have to be a higher density or, in economic terms, inefficiency would result. He said this is demonstrated by higher prices and/or a greater demand to convert agriculture land to urban land. To put it in further context, he continued, the most accurate description of the housing stock was for January 1976. However, there were changes taking place in the community in the past two years to support the need for better update, and the first quarterly report for 1978 will be on housing based on January 1977, statistics. He said the policy implications included that annexation alone will not eliminate the inefficiencies, as there will continue to be an increased demand for multiple-family housing disproportionately concentrated in central locations. e Mr. Lieuallen questioned Mr. Whitelaw as to how he could pinpoint where people would want to live, noting the suggestion of the demand for housing around the core of the City. Mr. Whitelaw replied the trends come from patterns established elsewhere wherein usually the outcome for households looking for housing is the tradeoff of accessibility to jobs and residen- tial space. He said typically multiple-family housing and high density occurs the closer the location is to concentration of jObs. He said that would be compounded if there is not an increase in large investments in highways around large metropolitan areas. He said also if the cost of fuel and energy increases relative to incomes and price levels, any given city will be more compacted. This was also one reason he had argued that annexation alone would not solve the problem. Mr. Hamel wondered if the high density comparisons had been made also to Valley River Center and the University of Oregon. Mr. Whitelaw said any concentration of employment would generate the same kind of demand, including Valley River Center. Mr. Lieuallen said the report suggested if the trends continue through 1985, the suggestion is made there would be an excess of single-family I units and an undersupply of multiple-family units. Mr. Whitelaw said those figures illustrated the kind of imbalance that might exist, but that would not happen as the units would be occupied. He said the report suggests those are the kinds of possibilities if there is not a shift in the mix and density in the meantime. - 1/25/78--3 5~