06/11/1980 Meeting - Laserfiche WebLink

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Mr. Lieuallen stated the way that he understands it, a low-income group of buyers would be financing the needs of a group of low-income renters. He asked if converted units are really a form of low-income ownership, what the median price of the units would be, and also what 4It standards are being used to designate "low-income." Ms. Johnson responded that condominiums generally come on the market at a lower price "than other forms of housing to be purchased. Because of this, they are assuming that the buyers would be at the lower end of the economic spectrum. Mr. Lieuallen asked for more detail, in particular, what Willamette Towers condominiums cost. Ms. Johnson responded $28,000 to $55,000. Mr. Lieuallen asked how that compares with single-family housing. Ms. Johnson responded that a two-bedroom unit at Willamette Towers would be about $44,000 and a comparable single- family home would be $60,000 to $65,000, depending upon the location and the kind of house. Mr. Lieua1len stated he is not convinced that condominiums would qualify as low-income housing. Mayor Keller noted that some condominiums could be rather fashionable housing. Ms. Miller stated agreement and felt that many condominiums would provide moderate- and high-income housing, but did not think they would provide low-income housing. She stated she feels the issue of the tax is a difficult one. The primary purpose of the tax would be to arrive at some possible solution for affordable available housing in Eugene. However, it may not be the fairest way of dealing with housing for low- or moderate-income people. Investors might not be willing to put their money into structures that might not be able to be converted to condominiums. She felt that encouraging the Joint Housing Committee to look at alternatives for providing low- and moderate-income housing might be better than the tax. She favored elimination of the tax, but felt that permit fees should cover admin- istrative costs. \ e Ms. Schue stated she is less certain that the Joint Housing Committee . can come up with solutions for low-income housing. Finding solutions to housing problems requires money and that is the difficult problem. She recognizes that they may be taxing a group that would be less able to pay. She felt that perhaps a lower tax would be an appropriate compromise. Mr. Obie stated he would rather see the council commit itself to attempting to spend more from the general fund for low- and moderate- income housing than tax a specific group. He feels it should be the responsibility of the community-at-large to pay. Converted condo- miniums are selling to low- and moderate-income people and new-built condominiums are selling to higher-income people. Converted condo- miniums are normally the less expensive condominiums. He feels people should be encouraged to build multi-family housing that can be con- verted later. - 6/11/80--6