Creating "Missing Middle" Housing in Oregon

Bringing affordability back to Portland's neighborhoods

Portland, like Eugene, is figuring out how it will grow in the future, with the added pressure of a housing affordability crisis. Portland Commissioner Steve Novick has a short article about the "Missing Middle" in housing in Portland, which is similar to the new housing types proposed by the South Willamette Special Area Zone.

“Middle housing is just as much about housing affordability and equity as accommodating growth and diversity of housing types. Part of housing affordability is, without a doubt, subsidizing the production of new affordable housing for people who earn below the median family income, and we must maintain our commitment to building subsidized housing. But another part of affordability is getting our zoning code out of the way of smaller, attached housing. We should provide as many housing types at as many price points as possible, and prioritize stable affordable rents.”

— Portland Commissioner Steve Novick

Land-use and Affordable Housing

Blame lack of incentives, not land-use system, for housing crisis (opinion)

Want to lower housing costs? Increase the supply (opinion)

As we work to accommodate growth in Eugene and throughout Oregon, how do we ensure that we have an adequate supply of affordable housing, so that we all have good housing options?  Oregon's land-use planning requires us to figure out how if we have enough land to build enough housing for everyone (in Eugene, that is a key part of Envision Eugene) but how to ensure that housing is affordable is a little murkier. The above op-eds have some thoughts on how to accomplish it.

“[Oregon’s planning system] does not say anything about “affordability,” and that is a gap the planning profession and others have long recognized.”

— Brian Campbell, The Oregonian guest columnist