Item A: Envision Eugene - Housing Mix and Industrial Lands

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purchase. Recent multifamily projects built for owner purchase have targeted the upper end of the market providing no local examples of recently constructed owner-occupied affordable multifamily housing. The cost of multifamily housing has implications essentially all of the future demand for multifamily housing along designated transit corridors and in core commercial areas since redevelopment of these areas may result in comparatively expensive units. housing puts these units out of reach of the lower end of the rent or purchase scale. The extent to which additions to the multifamily housing stock may make the cost of older units more affordable will have to be measured over time. is in large part determined by housing supply and demand and the availability of institutional financing. Likewise, when housing and transportation expenses are considered in combination with each other, costs due to the escalating price of gasoline could be ameliorated by providing denser housing in proximity to employment centers and transit lines. However, given the relatively short commuting distances within Eugene, as well as between Eugene and outlying communities, the relationship between these two major household expenditures and the extent to which one may affect the other is unclear at this time, nd warranting further study as recommended by Strategy #3 of the 2 Pillar of Envision Eugene. In addition to the factors of supply and demand in which a surplus of housing units can generally lower rents and mortgages, housing affordability is perhaps as much a function of economic policies which result in higher employment and higher personal income. Until our local economy improves significantly, we can expect housing affordability to remain a major issue, and even when the job market rebounds, subsidized housing will likely remain a necessity. Ensuring an adequate amount of land for economic development, caffordable housing land banking program, facilitating private and not-for-profit multifamily development efforts, and exploring alternative possibilities merit your consideration., e.g.: land trust programs; substituting Systems Development Charges (SDCs) with a Local Improvement District (LID) and forgiving the taxes for low income buyers; creating a program similar to the Multiple Unit Property Tax Exemption (a MUPTE-like program) that encourages construction of housing serving low income buyers. Notwithstanding all of the information that the Envision Eugene process has engendered, what remains perplexingly uncertain is the degree to which the values, preferences and behaviors of Eugeneans as a whole will change as we face challenges over the next two decades. The magnitude to which people may modify their lifestyles either by choice, cost of living or governmental policy during this relatively short time frame is unclear. Specifically in regard to housing, it is not possible to determine with any measure of certainty the extent to which local residents may shift away from living in the types of homes that characterize housing market. Current literature is both contradictory and inconclusive regarding whether multifamily housing may supplant the traditional desire of owning a single family home on a parcel of land. Nor does available research enable us to determine the significance which either the price of fuel or alternatives to gasoline powered automobiles may have in reducing vehicle miles travelled and greenhouse gas emissions. Although we can make some informed projections, there simply is no quantitative or qualitative basis of fact to definitively predict how people will respond to what may