The Eugene City Council recently approved $1.2 million for projects meant to increase the supply of affordable housing.
Laura Hammond is a housing tools analyst with the city. She said the goal is to serve people who find it difficult to find housing in an especially challenging market.
“It includes small homes that first time homebuyers can buy,” Hammond said. “It’s going to include the conversion of a hotel into permanent supportive housing for people exiting homelessness, and it’s also going to include a new mixed-use building that would create a permanent living situation for people with conviction histories.”
Hammond said four houses for first-time homebuyers planned by Cultivate Inc. takes advantage of new middle housing codes enacted by the state. She said it’s in a residential neighborhood in West Eugene near shopping and bus lines.
“It could have happened just on its own, but by adding the affordable housing trust fund, those four new homes are actually going to be affordable to first-time homebuyers,” Hammond said. “Something that we know is pretty challenging now in Eugene.”
Hammond said one of the homes in that project will be fully accessible under the American With Disabilities Act. The Affordable Housing Trust Fund was established in 2019 and is funded by a .5% excise tax on new construction in Eugene.
More details on the projects: (from the City of Eugene website)
- $552,650 was awarded to Homes for Good Housing Agency for The Coleman, a new mixed-used three-story development in partnership with Sponsors Inc. that will provide 38 apartments and on-site support services to people with conviction histories. The land for the development, at Highway 99 and Roosevelt, was donated by Lane County and is located across the street from Sponsors’ Roosevelt Crossing transitional housing community. The building will include Sponsors’ Re-entry Resource Center, offices, and meeting rooms, providing services to people living on-site, as well as for clients in the community. The project will also receive $470,847 in City Fee Assistance. Construction is anticipated to start in Spring of 2024 and occupancy would begin in 2025.
- $383,434 was awarded to Homes for Good Housing Agency for Bridges on Broadway, which will convert the four story, former Red Lion Hotel, located at 599 East Broadway in downtown Eugene, into a 56-unit Permanent Supportive Housing apartment community serving people experiencing chronic homelessness, including individuals with severe and persistent mental illness and/or substance use disorder. Residents will receive support services to help them maintain stable housing. The project will also receive $173,590 in City Fee Assistance. Construction is anticipated to start in Spring of 2024 and occupancy would begin in 2025.
- $321,528 was awarded to Cultivate Inc. for the Grant Street Grow Homes, four new homeownership homes in the Far West Neighborhood. The four new homes would be built in the backyard area of an existing home and would be available for purchase by low-income households. Three of the new homes would be one bedroom, one-bathroom homes with ability to ‘grow’ to become three-bedroom, two-bathroom homes in the future. The fourth home will be ground level and fully accessible under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). The project will also receive $58,472 in City Fee Assistance. Construction is expected to start in early 2024 and occupancy would occur by 2025.
