Eugene planners outline actions after state assigns about 26,000‑unit housing need

Eugene and Lane County planning staff told the Lane County Board of Commissioners on March 12 that a new state housing‑planning method requires Eugene to plan for roughly 26,000 new dwelling units over 20 years, and staff described steps they will take to try to meet that number without immediately expanding the urban growth boundary.

For the record, Jared Bowder, a planner with Lane County Planning, opened the board presentation, saying, "I'm Jared Bowder with Lane County Planning. Today, the project management team for the Eugene Urban Growth Strategies project have prepared a work session update and a presentation for the board." The team from the City of Eugene included Terry Harding, the city's principal planner for community planning and design; Rebecca Kershaw, senior planner; and Leah Rausch, senior planner. Alyssa Hunter, Eugene's planning director, and Heather O'Donnell, senior planner, joined later to answer questions.

Why it matters: the state’s new Oregon Housing Needs Analysis (ONA) methodology allocates an updated 20‑year housing need to cities, and then requires city‑level analyses that can lead to code changes, incentives, and—if necessary—an urban growth boundary (UGB) expansion. The number staff cited — about 26,000 new dwelling units for Eugene over 20 years — is far larger than prior planning assumptions and, staff said, includes both projected future household growth and a measure of "current unmet need" from decades of underproduction.

Staff presentation and numbers Leah Rausch described the ONA framework and the steps the city will now be required to take. Under the state process she outlined, the state allocates a 20‑year need and an eight‑year production target to each city; cities then complete a local analysis of housing types and locations, update a housing capacity analysis that inventories existing development capacity on vacant and redevelopable land, and adopt a housing production strategy that prioritizes actions to meet the eight‑year target.

Rausch summarized the figures staff are using: Eugene currently has about 90,000 dwelling units. The ONA allocation means Eugene must plan for roughly 26,000 additional dwellings over 20 years — an increase of about 30 percent in the city's housing stock. Using the city's growth monitoring data, staff said Eugene produced about 960 net new dwelling units per year over the last decade (roughly 100 of those annually were subsidized affordable units). To meet the new 20‑year need, staff said annual production would need to average about 1,600 units per year over the next decade, including roughly 700 units per year affordable to households at the lowest incomes.

Rausch and Rebecca Kershaw outlined the sequential, state‑required approach: (1) demonstrate how much of the 20‑year need can be satisfied inside the current UGB through existing capacity and redevelopment; (2) identify actions and code changes to increase expected capacity inside the UGB (the "housing production strategy"); and (3) only after exhausting those options evaluate whether a UGB expansion is necessary and where to place it. Kershaw also described work on a parcel‑specific land use designation map that will replace the older Metro Plan diagram inside Eugene’s UGB; she said the new, GIS‑based map will be interactive and intended to reduce uncertainty for property owners and developers.

Planned timeline and deliverables Staff said the work will be delivered in three principal adoption packages: the first, scheduled for 2026, will include new comprehensive plan chapters, the land use designation map, and an initial set of housing and jobs actions focused on removing known regulatory barriers. A second package including residential and employment land supply studies is planned for 2027. Staff said they expect to bring UGB‑expansion analysis later in the decade and aim to adopt any necessary expansion by 2030. The project team emphasized the work will include an equity advisory panel and extensive community engagement ongoing through the next two years.

Possible actions and tools Rausch listed categories of actions Eugene may pursue within the UGB before an expansion: public information and pre‑approved plan programs; code audits and surgical code changes to permit missing housing types; targeted rezoning or redesignation to increase capacity; financial incentives or land‑banking to enable subsidized affordable housing; infrastructure investments to unlock infill sites; and measures to encourage voluntary annexation. She said some actions would be implemented by the city alone and some in partnership with Lane County.

Board reaction and follow‑up requests Commissioner Farr thanked staff and asked how much of the 26,000 number represented decades of underproduction. Rausch and Alyssa Hunter responded that unmet need was incorporated in the statewide allocation and that roughly one‑third of the number came from underproduction in early draft figures; staff said they were awaiting final state breakdowns and would follow up with the board.

Commissioner Buck asked whether the urban reserves adopted in 2023 can be used immediately for expansion. Kershaw and Rausch explained the state process is sequential: staff must first show how much of the need can be met inside the UGB before moving to expansion. They said the urban reserves contain more acreage than will likely be needed for the initial expansion and that only part of the urban reserves would be brought into the UGB when expansion occurs.

Several commissioners emphasized urgency. Commissioner Buck said the process "is not fast enough" given the scale of need. Alyssa Hunter, Eugene's planning director, told the board the city is tracking state rulemaking, working with the League of Oregon Cities and other regional partners, and pursuing housing actions aimed at producing more units sooner — including building permit streamlining and code updates already underway.

What staff will return with Staff told the board they will return with more detail as the state provides final ONA numbers and will bring a summer work session (anticipated in August) to review community engagement results, draft comprehensive plan chapters, and an initial package of housing and jobs actions. They also said they will work with regional partners and affordable‑housing developers on possible expedited measures and funding options.

Ending The work session closed with staff and commissioners noting the scale of the challenge and committing to continued coordination and public engagement as the city and county move through the new ONA process.