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A. Residential Land Use and Housing Element <br /> <br /> The Residential Land Use and Housing Element considers the land and the units where <br /> metropolitan area residents live. Residential uses occupy more developed land than any <br /> other use in the metropolitan area. <br /> <br /> The element addresses the State Housing Goal: "To provide for the housing needs of <br /> citizens of the State," and includes policies based on an analysis of existing and future <br /> housing demand, supply, problems, and opportunities. Housing demand originates with the <br /> basic need for shelter. When shelter is of insufficient quantity or quality, demand exists for <br /> additional or different units. Factors that influence demand include existing and projected <br /> population, number and size of households, age of household head, household income, and <br /> whether households own or rent. <br /> <br /> The element focuses on three aspects of housing supply: dwelling units, residential <br /> deyelopment densities, and residential land. It also deals with housing problems and <br /> opportunities that exist because of: (1) selected characteristics of households, such as low <br /> income; (2) selected characteristics of housing units, such as substandard condition; (3) <br /> existing public policies; and (4) difference between the units needed and the units supplied. <br /> <br /> Finally, this element provides a guide for local jurisdictions in planning to accommodate <br /> future residential development in balance with other land uses and to meet the housing <br /> needs of the existing and projected population. <br /> <br /> Findings <br /> <br /> 1. Residential development took place at a rapid rate between 1977-80; about 8,680 new <br /> units were constructed during that period. From 1980-83, dwelling unit construction <br /> declined; about 2,610 new units were added. <br /> <br /> 2. The long-term, gradual shift toward a greater proportion of multiple-family type units <br /> and a reduced proportion of single-family type units continued in the 1977-83 period. <br /> In 1977, 69 percent of the housing stock were single-family type units, and 31 percent <br /> were multi-family type units. In 1983, 66 percent were single-family type units, and <br /> 34 percent were multi-family units. Of new units added to the inventory in those six <br /> years, about 5,830 (52 percent) were multi-family type. The same trend toward a <br /> greater proportion of multi-family type units was exhibited in Eugene and Springfield. <br /> <br />3. Overall residential densities continued to increase gradually between 1977 and 1983, <br /> from 3.5 to 3.9 units per gross acre (an 11 percent increase in residential density <br /> metropolitan-wide). <br /> <br />4. Average household size decreased from approximately 3.0 to 2.6 persons between <br /> 1970 and January 1979. However, during the same period, the size of housing units, <br /> as reflected by number of bedrooms, increased. As a result, the metropolitan area <br />IV-16 <br /> <br /> III-A- 1 <br /> <br /> <br />