Joint Governing Bodies <br />June 27, 2017 <br />Page 2 <br />Why dopt the Current UGB Pg2dia, e? <br />Dousing affordability in Eugene is at, a crisis level. There is simply not enough <br />housing for current and future residents, and this housing- shortage is causing homelessness <br />and straining household budgets. Simply put, Eugene residents' quality of life is being <br />severely negatively impacted because of the housing shortage. It is not economically or <br />politically feasible to solve this crisis alone with public expenditures of subsidized housing. <br />The solution to the crisis requires multiple strategies, one of which is to provide additional <br />housing through planning for and then expanding the UGB for residential land. <br />As you well know,° this current UGB expansion package does not include an. <br />expansion for housing. However, the consequence of expanding the UGB this go-round <br />would be counterproductive. The reason is that the statewide land use system requires, with <br />some rare exceptions that I have exhaustively identified in past hearings, a local government <br />that does not have urban, reserves to expand into "Exception" property that is already <br />developed for low density residential (i.e. "Rural Residential"). Rural Residential property <br />generally is poorly suited for redevelopment. Often owners have no interest in developing <br />the property. When it eventually is redeveloped, the costs of redevelopment are generally <br />higher than greenfield development. Additionally, expanding the UGB into Rural <br />Residential property could eventually destroy an important and desirable housing type. For <br />the most part, the statewide land use system prohibits the creation of new Rural Residential <br />property. Rural Residential housing is a threatened species. <br />In contrast, if the current UGB expansion package is adopted, the City can then <br />move confidently on Urban Reserves planning and revisiting the UGB expansion for <br />residential land. 't'he sooner this process begins, the sooner a more effective, efficient, <br />econoinical and desirable UGB expansion for residential can occur. The reason is because <br />the statewide priority scheme for UGB expansion requires a local government to look first at <br />Urban Reserves areas. Only if there is not enough Urban Reserves land to accommodate <br />growth for the next 20 years may the local government expand into Exception (i.e. Rural <br />Residential) land. <br />The City has committed to forwarding an Urban Reserves package for your <br />consideration within two years of acknowledgment of the current UGB expansion package. <br />The City has also committed to delivering a report to City Council within three years of state <br />acknowledgment of the current package that would update the residential buildable lands <br />inventory and the community's need based on the most recent finalized Portland State <br />University ("PSU") population forecast. It is generally presumed that an expansion for <br />residential will be necessary at that point. <br />