City revisits affordability

Council hears housing presentation

By Rebecca Randall

The Lake Oswego Review, Oct 22, 2009, Updated Oct 30, 2009 (2 Reader comments)

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Lake Oswego City Councilor Roger Hennagin revived an old discussion at Tuesday’s council meeting charging the council to address a lack of attainable housing in Lake Oswego.

Hennagin introduced Paul Lyons and Ralph Tahran, who have been meeting weekly with Hennagin and a small group of others interested in visioning housing that is more affordable for aging residents, young families and young professionals.

Lyons led discussion reminding the council that in 2004-2005 an Affordable Housing Task Force spent a year researching market needs, meeting with Realtors and getting public opinion. At that time, the task force made 10 recommendations to the council.

“The council in 2005 was not in a mind to go forward,” said Mayor Jack Hoffman. “This is a different time and different council.”

Lyons pointed out a goal in the city’s Comprehensive Plan which is to “provide opportunities for housing at varied price ranges and rent levels, based on local needs.” However, he does not feel that it has been implemented.

The city’s planning department is currently undergoing a periodic review of the Comprehensive Plan, making this a good time to begin a discussion, said Lyons. He is hopeful this time the vision will go from discussion to execution.

Additionally, after hearing the 30-minute presentation on research Lyons and his informal committee have done, the council chose to add the topic to its annual goal-setting process scheduled for January.

The original discussion started because many older residents would like to “age in place” by selling their large homes and moving to smaller ones within Lake Oswego — which aren’t too easy to find. In 2005, the task force found that people were concerned about living alone, maintaining a large property and potentially developing physical limitations that would prevent them from driving.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, estimates from 2005-2007 are that 28.7 percent of the population in Lake Oswego is 55 and older. It is projected to grow to 40.6 percent by 2017. Additionally, 36.6 percent of households are nonfamily.

An AARP survey of people age 50 and older found that 85 percent wish to remain in their communities for as long as possible.

The presentation also mentioned young families who are willing to sacrifice a strong school district to live in a larger home in Tigard or Hillsboro.

Councilor Kristin Johnson pointed out that the discussion should include young professionals who may be more drawn to buying in Portland.

“There are a lot of people like me who grow up here and leave and develop attachment to somewhere else because it’s more affordable,” said Johnson.

The group also cited a recent Wall Street Journal article that addressed the issue of creating more compact, walkable communities with a diversity of housing in suburban areas across the country.

According to the group’s research, the market is trending toward urban living, small bungalows, compact development with shared common spaces.

Lyons thinks that the market has changed due to the recession.

“This economy has impacted a lot of thinking …” he said. “People are looking to downsize.”

The price point for attainable housing is between $250,000 and $350,000, said Lyons. Usually, those homes are under 2,000 square feet and generally require some fixing up.

Interviews with local Realtors found that there are currently 27 months of real estate inventory on homes between $500,000 and $1 million. There are 36 months of inventory for homes more than $1 million. In contrast, recently, homes under $500,000 have started selling again after the recession’s freeze.

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