HB 2001 is in the process of becoming adopted as an attempt to provide the affordable housing Eugene sorely needs. Over the past few months I’ve read many op-eds in our local newspapers calling this bill an “abomination” that will “rip apart our neighborhoods.” To those that follow this rhetoric, you’re right. Eugene doesn’t need HB 2001; it needs total restructuring, reform and rebuilding of our neighborhoods. HB 2001 doesn’t go far enough; it is a small step in the progression of policy that transforms Eugene’s infrastructure to meet our community’s needs.
To provide more affordable housing, city zoning is paradoxically both the largest obstacle and solution. HB 2001 allows Eugene to re-zone areas previously designated for single-family units to middle housing, which is defined by the bill as duplexes, triplexes, quadplexes and cottage clusters. Examples of such buildings can be seen on the Eugene government’s website. A model of predominantly single-family homes worked for years, but that time is behind us; Eugene isn’t a small town anymore.
Prioritizing an idealized view of Eugene that centers the single-family home is at best blind to reality and at worst intentionally negligent of pressing community issues that need to be addressed. We cannot move toward a metropolitan sphere where everybody has access to the resources they need while also prioritizing single-family home living. Unfortunately, our inability to realize this and rise to the moment has resulted in dire consequences for our population.

Oregon needs 140,000 more units right now –– and 444,000 over the next 20 years to accommodate our chronic underhousing. The Willamette Valley is specifically dire, needing over 100,000 new units by 2040, as cities like Eugene have the highest rate of per capita homelessness of any city in the US.
These problems facing our city won’t go away, and dragging our feet in the letters to the editor section will only prolong it. Potentially allowing four families to reside in a space that used to only house one is a monumental change in the right direction.
 

I spoke with sociology professor Claire Herbert about the bill and her perspective on affordable housing in Eugene.

“HB 2001 alone is not a silver bullet that will solve our housing problem, but it is a necessary step to create affordable housing,” Herbert said. “Building more housing is essential and ideally we would be building housing that spans the spectrum of needs.”

Herbert is right and gets at a valid critique of the bill: There is no promise that these middle housing units will be affordable. Without intervention, housing developers will opt to build luxury condos to maximize profit potential, rather than the houses that are needed. To stop this before it occurs, housing and pricing regulations must be implemented by the Oregon legislature and Eugene local government to rein in developers and keep these new units affordable to our residents. 

Another concern is that the construction of middle housing will lower surrounding property values, but this worry is a byproduct of a larger issue at the core of homeownership. Wealth generation for most Americans is tied to housing which creates an adversarial relationship between the homeowners interests and those of the community. The understanding was that an individual would move up the chain: from renting with roommates to owning a house with a significant other. But recent years have exposed our system of homeownership as flawed and inherently exclusionary, forcing homeowners to fight renters in property values while houseless populations increase beside vacant luxury homes.

If homeowners care about their communities as much as their signs on their front lawns say they do, they should support the rights of their fellow citizens to have access to affordable housing.

However, even in the best possible scenario, HB 2001 only represents the first step to adjust our city to fit a more equitable and sustainable future. Understand that the current order of things is unsustainable, our society — not just Eugene — consumes too much and gives too little. Our cities are vast, low density sprawls of single-unit homes that encourage gridlocked streets with giant personal vehicles. Imagine if the rest of the world followed this model. If nearly 7.6 billion people desired to have their own house and car, how long would oil last? How long would the ozone last?

Our lifestyle is incompatible with reality, and the sooner we realize this, the sooner we can make the necessary changes. Yes, HB 2001 is a band-aid, but a band-aid stops the initial bleeding and allows for further, comprehensive treatment that addresses the underlying causes.