A discussion on housing needs and affordability
By Paul Hall on Thursday, April 15th, 2021 in Northeastern Oregon News Northeastern Oregon Top Stories
LA GRANDE – The City of La Grande City Council had teamed up with the Planning Commission this week during a work session discussing the Housing needs in La Grande. The City of La Grande has been preparing a Housing Production Strategy which has been a project that has been worked on for several months. Since this was a work session, ideas were discussed including Strategies and Actions, Analysis of Impacts that included the City’s housing needs and affordability. Also, a list of strategies and actions were either discussed or considered by the City.
Last Fall, the City of La Grande received technical assistance funding from the Oregon Department of Land Conservation and Development Commission to hire a consultant to help the City prepare a Housing Needs Analysis (HNA). We have been working on this for several months and are nearing completion. The Monday night meeting with the City Council and Planning Commission was a work session where the consultant provided their recommendations on housing strategies that the city could implement to encourage the development of new needed housing. Some of those strategies include changes to the City’s land use codes that may result in allowing smaller lot sizes in residential neighborhoods, and to encouraging the development of small cottage homes which is an affordable housing option for lower income families. Other recommended strategies include the City entering into a public-private partnership with development to help make the cost of development more affordable. For example, new development often requires the construction of new infrastructure (streets, water, sewer, etc.). The recommendation is for the City to assist with the cost and construction of the new infrastructure.
More on what was discussed can be found at: Microsoft Word – La Grande HPS – Final Strategies Memo 040721.docx (cityoflagrande.org) In 2019, the Oregon Legislature passed House Bill 2003, which required cities to conduct a Housing Needs Analysis (HNA) that evaluates a city’s housing needs over the next 20 years. Following the completion of the HNA, the House Bill then requires cities to prepare and adopt a Housing Production Strategy (HPS) which identifies specific city code changes, policy and process changes, and/or the establishment of new programs that will encourage the development of the new housing that is needed and identified in the HNA.
