Eugene planners outline policies and incentives to meet 26,000‑unit housing need

EUGENE, Ore. — At a June 17 work session, the Eugene Planning Commission heard staff present draft housing goals, 29 policies and a package of actions intended to increase housing production and affordability over the next 20 years.

The staff presentation cited the 2025 Oregon Housing Needs Analysis numbers that show Eugene must accommodate more than 26,000 new dwelling units over the next 20 years. Rebecca Gershow, senior planner, told commissioners the city’s current pace — about 960 new units a year over the past decade, roughly 100 of which are subsidized — is far below the roughly 1,600 units per year the analysis indicates is needed, including about 700 annually affordable to the lowest‑income households.

Why it matters: staff said the shortfall requires a package of regulatory changes, incentives and site‑specific rezonings to increase capacity inside the urban growth boundary (UGB) before any UGB expansion. The proposed near‑term actions are meant to be measurable inputs to the land supply study and the city’s urban growth strategies recommendations to city council next year.

Staff described the housing chapter as organized around four goals: production, affordability, choice and fairness. “Develop and facilitate tools that increase the production of new housing,” the production goal reads; policy examples include removing barriers to housing production, offering incentives to increase access, and tools…