Like in years past, the ASUO and candidates running for next year’s student government are pushing hard for Eugene to implement a code to regulate housing conditions across the city.
Previous executives, just like current ASUO President Nilda Brooklyn and Vice President Joy Nair, have advocated for the city to regulate rent control, minimum standards for energy efficiency and number of bathrooms per resident, among other elements of student living.
But city administrators said Eugene simply can’t afford to enforce a code. Sunna Murray, a city development planner, said a recent budget report indicates funding a regulatory agency to monitor housing conditions isn’t possible.
“There just wasn’t any money available for something like this last time we took a look at the number,” Murray said.
Eugene maintained its own code from 1966-1983 but also had to cut it due to lacking funds. More recently, the city created a nine-member advisory board, which studied housing issues in Eugene from 1995-1997 and created several recommendations for the implementation of a code.
Again, the city council nixed the proposal because it couldn’t find enough money.
“Basically, what it came down to was that all the work done by that committee couldn’t be put to use because of a lack of money,” Murray said.
The state of Oregon has its own housing code, but student government members said the state version is only a vague blueprint from which cities or counties could draft their own codes.
Megan Hughes, ASUO community outreach director, has been working for several months to develop a proposal outlining five to 10 issues students should have in a code. The proposal is similar to one Corvallis is in the final stages of implementing.
She said the city’s lack of funding surprised her. She has been meeting with City Councilor David Kelly and said funding issues haven’t been raised during their meetings.
Kelly, who began representing the University after the Jan. 1 city redistricting, said he is still getting acquainted with ASUO concerns.
“I’m still educating myself about housing code issues,” Kelly said.
Hughes said a housing code could create accountability for landlords and overall “positively affect the housing around the campus for students.” She said that the student government would try to find a solution to funding problems if money is not available.
If a lack of money makes the implementation of a code unfeasible, Hughes said ASUO will continue a housing education campaign it is currently creating.
The campaign will include a renter’s information pamphlet set for distribution by late fall, which will include various rental rules and building codes, a directory of Eugene apartments, apartment profiles, maps and a question-and-answer section.
Hughes’ next step is to meet with Richie Weinman, the planning department’s housing code expert.
ASUO veterans said roadblocks to implementing a housing code are nothing new, but they are making sure progress isn’t lost in the transition from one year to the next.
Holly Magner, last year’s ASUO vice president, also included housing code implementation in her and ASUO President Jay Breslow’s campaign platform, but the process took so long it never got out of the planning stage. That research was passed to the current administration, and they have based much of their work on its findings.
Magner said a viable housing code proposal takes several years to make, and can only be completed if ASUO creates more continuity between incoming and outgoing administrations to facilitate ongoing projects.
“It’s a lot of red tape and crap you have to go through” to create a housing code proposal, she said.
Hughes agreed with Magner and said she hopes to return to student government next year and work more on the proposal.
Although Eugene doesn’t have a housing code, the city does maintain a building code. A building code regulates housing conditions, like how tall it is and how old its wiring can be, but only allows the city to intervene if it deems the structure dangerous in some way.
“For the city to take action, it needs to be considered dangerous,” Murray said.