Item 2D - 2005 Leg.Policies Doc - Laserfiche WebLink

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B. HOUSING (Figures in this section are based on 2000 census data.) Despite the construction of more than 3,000 new rental units since 1990 in the Eugene- Springfield metropolitan Housing Crisis area, there remains a growing housing crisis for those who need .25.7 percent of Eugene's 58,000 households are very low-cost housing or emergency low-income. When combined with Springfield, over shelter. The need for emergency 20,000 households have incomes at or below 50% of shelter is documented in the adopted the area median. Eugene-Springfield Consolidated Plan, the United Way's State of .Fewer than 3,500 of the 20,000 eligible households Caring study and Community receive housing subsidies, due to a shortage of Solutions Plan, and the one-night resources. homeless counts conducted every six months. Despite a variety of shelter .Local counts of homeless people indicate that at and homeless assistance programs least 1,600 and perhaps as many as 3,500 homeless (including Family Shelter House, people can be found in Eugene on any given night. Interfaith Emergency Shelter One third are children. Program, Station 7 Youth Shelter, Lindholm Service Station, and New Roads) and an ordinance that allows churches, businesses, government entities and residents to invite homeless people to camp on their property, people are still turned away from overcrowded emergency shelters. This area's most pressing need remains the creation of new low-cost housing for very-low-income households. Evidence of this housing crisis includes: · Out of nearly 37,500 renter households in Eugene and Springfield, 15600 (42%) have incomes below 50% of median income. · Over seventy percent of very-low-income families pay more than 30 percent of their income for housing. Thirty-seven percent pay more than half of their income for housing. · A majority of very-low-income families are headed by single women. Eighty percent of these families pay more than 40 percent of their income for housing expenses. · The Lane County Housing Authority reports a waiting list of more than 6,300 in The Section 8 program alone. While nearly 3,500 households receive subsidized housing, approximately 20,000 households in Eugene and Springfield are now financially eligible for housing if it was available. The Consolidated Plan lists three top priority activities: a) increasing the rental supply of permanent affordable housing; b) enhancing shelter support services for homeless households; and c) increasing the supply of transitional and permanent housing for specialized populations. City of Eugene Legislative Policies, 2005 Session 26