Ordinance No. 20585 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Demographic factors affecting housing need With changes in income, family composition, and age, housing needs change throughout a person's life. There is no question that age affects housing type and tenure. Mobility is substantially higher for people aged 20 to 34. People in that age group will also have, on average, less income than people who are older. They are less likely to have children. All of these factors mean that younger households are much more likely to be renters and renters are more likely to be in multi -family housing. The data in Figure 19 to Figure 21 illustrate what more detailed research has shown and what most people understand intuitively: • Life cycles and housing choice interact in ways that are predictable in the aggregate. • Age of the household head is correlated with household size and income. • Household size affects housing preferences. • Income affects the ability of a household to afford a preferred housing type. The literature often informally describes the connection between socioeconomic and demographic factors, on the one hand, and housing choice, on the other, by giving names to households with certain combinations of characteristics: the "traditional family," the "never marrieds," the "dinks" (dual -income, no kids), the "empty nesters."28 Thus, simply looking at the long wave of demographic trends can provide good information for estimating future housing demand. Figure 19 shows households by household size and age of householder in Eugene and Oregon in 2011. Householders 15 to 54 are most likely to be in households with two or more people. Householders 55 years and older are more likely to live in single -person households. Nearly two-thirds of householders 75 years and older live in single -person households. 28 See Planning for Residential Growth: A Workbook for Oregon's Urban Areas (June 1997). Part 11 — Eugene Housing Needs Analysis ECONorthwest Page 63