Eugene opens application for development fee waivers for affordable housing
The city of Eugene has opened applications for its 2024 system development charge exemption for affordable housing that are estimated to be worth between $9,000 for a single family home to $300,000 for a 50-unit apartment.
SDCs are fees the city charges new developments to pay for the added strain those developments will have on the local transportation, wastewater, stormwater and parks systems. In 2024, Eugene will offer up to $824,046 in waived SDCs for affordable housing to encourage its development.
To qualify for the waivers, developers must promise to make rental housing affordable to people earning 60% of area median income ($886 for a studio to $1,619 for a 5-bedroom) or housing for home ownership affordable to people earning 80% of the area median income ($1,182 for a studio to $2,159 for a 5-bedroom), for the housing's first five years of existence.
The city said half of the waiver funds will go to rental housing and half to home ownership, unless one category doesn't get enough applications. In that case, the remaining cap will go to the other category.
The city said it will prioritize proposals that charge less than the maximum rent or mortgage, are accessible to people with disabilities, pledge longer affordability periods than five years, include more units or are located in otherwise higher-income parts of the city.
Jacob Fox, executive director of Homes for Good, Lane County's housing authority, praised the existence of Eugene's SDC waivers but said he would like to see the cap removed. "System development charge waivers are really critical," Fox said. "Every city in Lane County should have the same program: an uncapped SDC waiver program for affordable housing."
Roman Anderson, Owner and Project Manager at Eugene-based Kimball Construction, said he doesn't apply for the city's SDC waivers because of the amount of paperwork involved.
"It takes a more sophisticated developer to take advantage of those waivers," Anderson said. "(The waivers are) good in spirit, but when you present that, especially to small developers and small landlords, they don't want to get involved in all the additional paperwork."
According to the League of Oregon Cities, 76% of Oregon cities charge SDCs, and 54% of the cities that do provide the chance to waive them, usually to encourage affordable housing. Eugene began offering the waiver in 1998 with a cap of $115,000 annually ($218,000 in today's money) a number it has increased over the following years.
Developers can apply for the waiver on the city's website. Applications are due at 5 p.m. Nov. 8.
Alan Torres covers local government for the Register-Guard. He can be reached over email at atorres@registerguard.com or on twitter @alanfryetorres.
This article originally appeared on Register-Guard: Eugene opens apps for affordable housing development fee waive
