Eugene awards $1.26M for 98 affordable housing units

from Lindsay Selser, City of Eugene Planning & Development Department

The Eugene City Council approved the use of $1.26 million in affordable housing trust funds to support three low-income housing developments:

• $552,650 to Homes for Good Housing Agency for The Coleman (38 units)
• $383,434 to Homes for Good Housing Agency for Bridges on Broadway (56 units)
• $321,528 to Cultivate Inc. for the Grant Street Grow Homes (4 units)

The Coleman is a new mixed-use three-story development in partnership with Sponsors Inc. that will provide 38 apartments and on-site support services to people with conviction histories.  The land for the development at Highway 99 and Roosevelt Boulevard was donated by Lane County. It is located across the street from Sponsors’ Roosevelt Crossing transitional housing community.

The building will include Sponsors’ Re-entry Resource Center, offices, and meeting rooms, providing services to people living on-site, as well as for clients in the community.

The project will also receive $470,847 in city fee assistance. Construction is anticipated to start in spring 2024 and occupancy would begin in 2025.

Bridges on Broadway will convert the four-story former Red Lion Hotel, 599 East Broadway, to a 56-unit permanent supportive housing apartment community. It will serve persons experiencing chronic homelessness, including individuals with severe and persistent mental illness and/or substance use disorder. Residents will receive support services to help them maintain stable housing. The project will also receive $173,590 in city fee assistance. Construction is anticipated to start in spring 2024 and occupancy would begin in 2025.

Grant Street Grow Homes will build four new homeownership homes in the Far West neighborhood. The four new homes would be built in the backyard area of an existing home and would be available for purchase by low-income households.

Three of the four new homes would be one bedroom, one-bathroom homes with ability to ‘grow’ to become three-bedroom, two-bathroom homes in the future. The fourth home will be ground level and fully accessible under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).

The project will also receive $58,472 in city fee assistance. Construction is expected to start in early 2024 and occupancy would occur by 2025.

Over the three years that AHTF funds have been awarded to local projects, a total of $2.5 million has leveraged more than $45.2 million to support the creation of 178 new affordable homes in Eugene (74 homeownership, 104 rental/permanent supportive housing). 

The affordable housing trust fund was established in 2019 and is funded by a 0.5% construction excise tax on the construction of new structures and additions to existing structures in Eugene. It supports projects and programs that increase availability and access to owner- and renter-occupied housing that is affordable to middle- and low-income community members.  

Project developers apply for the funds through a competitive request for proposals process. Proposals are reviewed, scored, and ranked by the AHTF Advisory Committee with the Eugene City Council making the final awards.

The full proposals are available on the city’s website.  For more information, visit eugene-or.gov/affordablehousingfund.