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About Eugene weekly. (Eugene, Oregon) 1993-current | View Entire Issue (April 27, 2017)
LET TERS founded Eugene Parents Concerned About Testing. Rosiek will speak up and work to bring Eugene together to defend and im- prove our public schools. With either of Rosiek’s opponents, we’ll get more of the same. This is no time for school district business as usual. Vote for Jerry Rosiek. Stefan Ostrach Eugene Editor’s Note: Go to eugeneweekly.com for a full array of the 4J school board election letters EW has received. LCC NEEDS EARLY CHILDHOOD PROGRAM As early childhood educators for over 30 years, we were dismayed to hear that the LCC Board of Education is considering the elimination of its early childhood train- ing program. How can our community af- ford to lose this most valuable educational asset? The demand for early childhood care and education programs continues to in- crease, with numerous studies demonstrat- ing the critical importance of educational experiences during the early years. A key component of quality early childhood pro- grams is the quality of the teacher(s). The National Association for the Edu- cation of Young Children says: “We can in- vest now in our children and families and enjoy long-term savings, with a more vi- brant nation of healthy, achieving children and more stable families. Or, we can fail to make the investment and pay the price: increased delinquency, greater educational failures, lowered productivity, less eco- nomic competitiveness, and fewer adults prepared to be effective, loving parents to the next generation of children.” Our future preschool educators need to have access to an affordable, two-year ear- ly childhood education. All young children deserve excellent early childhood care and education. We urge the LCC board to retain their early childhood education program. Our community cannot afford the absence of this most foundational training program. Please leave your comments to the Board in support of the early childhood training program online at lanecc.edu/ board. Christopher & Deb Michaels Eugene VIEWPOINT BY K A A RIN K NUDSON A ND JOSHUA SKOV Fight the housing crisis, fill the missing middle SMALLER, MORE AFFORDABLE HOUSING IN WALKABLE NEIGHBORHOODS IS PART OF THE SOLUTION O n a rainy night in January, the National Associa- tion of Realtors published an article that should have alarmed every hopeful homeowner, empty- nester, and business entrepreneur in Eugene. Seattle — where the median home value recently tipped past $620,000 — was named the most-con- strained, least accessible housing market in the country. But who was second? Eugene. On April 11, renowned architect and urbanist Daniel Pa- rolek spoke at two local events about “missing middle hous- ing,” a term he coined. “The key to missing middle housing is that it never gets much larger than a house,” Parolek explained. “Missing middle is about smaller, well-designed units in walk- able neighborhoods.” This remarkable range of housing designs — including duplexes, fourplexes, courtyard apartments, bungalow courts, row houses and live/work units — fills in the gap between typi- cal single-family homes and mid-rise buildings. But in many communities, including ours, these once-com- mon missing middle housing types are now rare for a simple reason: we’ve stopped building them. One culprit is outdated zoning. A century ago, it made sense to separate people’s homes from the noise and pollution of industrial-era workplaces. But today, these same regulations push daily needs farther apart and restrict both the supply and variety of housing available. Most of Eugene’s residential land is zoned for single-family housing alone, and our current land use plans call for more than half of new homes in the next 20 years to be single-family residential alone. And yet, by 2025, the majority of households will be without children. By 2030, 35 percent of all households will be a single person. Another obstacle is that we’re often talking about the wrong things. We need to stop talking about “density” and start talking about neighborhoods and more inclusive communities. More- over, one-size-fits-all Systems Development Charges (SDCs) encourage building larger — more expensive — houses. Many communities focused on affordability are rewarding develop- ers for building more units within the same buildable envelope. Because missing middle units are smaller, they can be more affordable by design, which might mean young people with entry-level jobs can get into the local housing market, or that your own parents can stay. They’re also designed to blend into the surrounding neighborhood and can provide a graceful tran- sition from single-family homes to the commercial buildings and businesses along our busier corridors. While Eugene’s housing affordability crisis has gained na- tional attention, the entire country is grappling with this genera- tional shift in the housing market. Baby Boomers are seeking to downsize while Millennials are trying to break into the market — and they’re both looking for smaller, more affordable hous- ing within walking distance of shopping and public transporta- tion, according to the Urban Land Institute and AARP. Or, as Parolek summed it up: “What the Millennials want, the Boom- ers need.” Meanwhile, suburban single-family homes make up 90 per- cent of the current U.S. housing stock. Combine this market mismatch with the still-significant influence of the Great Re- cession’s housing market crash, and it adds up to a 35-million- unit shortage in the walkable housing desired nationwide. Here locally, we have our share of that shortage. But we can do something about it — specifically, our build- ing culture has the skills needed to do something about it. Over the past 10 years, Portland has taken concrete steps to eliminate barriers to missing middle types like backyard cottages, and the market has responded. With every step to build capacity and remove financial disincentives, Portland’s local industry of builders, architects and homeowner-developers focused on this smaller scale has grown in capacity and diversity. According to AccessoryDwellings.org, Portland issued 615 permits for accessory dwelling units in 2016 — 20 times the average number of permits issued each year before Portland be- gan waiving the SDCs for these units in 2010. They’re building almost as many small cottages as they are typical single-family homes. Make no mistake: Eugene still needs single-family housing, market-rate apartments, mixed-use projects, and larger afford- able housing projects — missing middle housing is not a silver bullet. But it can help provide some of the quality, variety, af- fordability, and accessibility our community has long lacked. Kaarin Knudson is a local design professional and member of the AIA-SWO Design Excellence Committee. Joshua Skov is board president of Better Eugene-Springfield Transportation and ran for Eugene City Council in 2016. More than a dozen organi- zations sponsored and over 300 people participated in the recent community events focused on “missing middle housing.” eugeneweekly.com • A pril 27, 2017 7
