All three of these anchors, affordability, accessibility and safety, are vitally important in affordable housing. How does the Floral Hill Terrace development stack up?

Is it AFFORDABLE?

The answer to this question involves understanding a new real estate model called the Community Land Trust (CLT) on which the Floral Hill Terrace development is based.

It does allow first time home buyers a path to ownership and includes supportive education and counseling about debt reduction through DevNW.
— However you do not actually own the land your house is built on. The land ownership is held by a Community Land Trust (CLT) which saves you money in upfront costs but limits the appreciation your investment can make over time since upon resale the price would still have to qualify as 80% or less of the Area Median Income. Any appreciation from a sale is then divided with the CLT so you only retain 25% of any windfall as housing increases in value.
— Additionally there is a monthly ground use fee that is on top of your mortgage payment similar to a homeowner association fee.
— Plus all the maintenance and repairs on your unit are your financial responsibility. Painting, plumbing, electrical… no landlord or home owners association pays for or manages those expenses even though you are paying a ground use fee every month.

“I couldn’t find anything on the market that would be less expensive!”
— Actually the Laurel Hill Valley is a widely diverse economic neighborhood with older affordable homes that are on the market in the $250,000 range but they typically need repairs and updating. What makes them worth it is that you would own the whole property and would NOT need to limit your sales price upon resale to 80% of the Area Median Income. Your home’s value would be linked to the rise in the area’s property values, not a percentage of the area’s annual median income and the appreciation would be all yours.

Is affordable housing REALLY affordable?
— A June 3, 2026 OPB / ProPublica investigative report has found that a popular low-income housing program, LIHTC, is pouring big money into developer’s coffers in tax incentives on housing that many Oregonians still can’t afford. And DevNW’s home ownership/Community Land Trust model, while laudable in principle, does nothing to address Eugene’s rental affordability crisis — the people most at risk of homelessness. In 2022, 31.3% of Eugene households were severely rent-burdened, and Lane County counted over 4,500 unhoused individuals in 2024. A 40-unit for-sale subdivision, however well-structured, is a drop in the bucket and misses the most acute need entirely. 

Googling answers…
Many studies argue that shifting Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) subsidies out of the developer’s pipeline and instead giving it directly to renters via vouchers could double the financial benefit. Who knew that bypassing the developer, investor, and accounting pipelines would provide deeper poverty relief and more consumer choice than current supply-side construction models. [1]

The Argument for Redirecting Subsidies

• Deeper Reinvestment: Studies indicate that redirecting funds into demand-side mechanisms like Housing Choice Vouchers can yield up to twice the impact per dollar. [1]
• Targeting the Neediest: The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP) notes that a targeted Renters’ Tax Credit could assist millions of the lowest-income households by covering the gap between rent and 30% of their income. [1, 2]
• Criticism of Existing Models: Critics argue that current LIHTC parameters tie rents to 60% of Area Median Income, pricing out the most vulnerable renters. [1]

The Counterargument: The Need for Supply

• Supply and Demand Constraints: Proponents of construction subsidies argue that subsidizing demand without actively building new units simply drives up overall market rents, which diminishes the effectiveness of vouchers. [1]
• Preserving Affordability: The National Low Income Housing Coalition (NLIHC) highlights that developers require upfront equity—often generated by selling tax credits—to build and preserve long-term affordable units. [1, 2, 3]

Ongoing Debates and Reform Efforts

• Academic Consensus: Researchers like Kirk McClure have pointed out that existing tax credit structures suffer from inefficiencies, spawning large administrative layers. [1]
• Local Impacts: In areas facing severe housing crises like Portland, OR, critics claim tax programs yield apartments that moderate earners can afford, rather than housing those in deepest poverty. [1]
• Policy Variations: Think tanks like the Terner Center for Housing Innovation continue to explore how designing direct-to-tenant credits could improve equity, as many federal housing tax breaks historically benefit higher-income homeowners. [1]

Is it ACCESSIBLE?

Is Public Transit available?
–There is NO LTD service here in the valley and there is none planned even in the next several years. The closest access to LTD is on Franklin Boulevard almost a mile and a half down the hill (or uphill after a long workday). How do people get to the services that are all based outside of the valley? Even the developer, DevNW acknowledges in their application that most travel would need to be done by private automobile.

Does it have a good Walkability Score?
–While Eugene in general has a walkability score of 94 out of 100, the walkability score for the Laurel Hill Valley is just 11 out of 100. The only “amenities” within comfortable walking distance are Hendricks Park and the Floral Hill (Ribbon) Trail Head. Not very practical for daily needs.

Can I walk to the grocery store or pharmacy?
— The closest traditional groceries and pharmacy are the Safeway on W. 18th Street which is over 2.8 miles away by foot and would take over 1 hour to walk.

This below graphic came from the DevNW AHTF Application…

What about biking?
–Floral Hill Terrace is located on one of the oldest roads in the Laurel Hill Valley. It is an unimproved, beautiful, winding, hilly and narrow country lane with no marked bike lanes, no roadway shoulders, no street lighting, and no sidewalks.
–Once you are out of the Floral Hill Terrace development the roads can be challenging with a two-way pavement width of just 17 feet. Plenty of residents and visitors to Laurel Hill Valley use bikes as their primary mode of transportation but it takes special care on the part of bicyclists, drivers and walkers to keep safe.

Is it SAFE?

Concerns about wildfires are never far from our minds here in the valley.
Smoke in the hills gets EVERYONE’S attention. Unhindered road access for inbound emergency vehicles and outbound evacuation routes are critical as other recent wild fires have taught us.

The current plan would add about 80 vehicles to Floral Hill Drive. Any subsequent ideas to tie-in an additional complex of about equal size directly adjacent to the proposed Floral Hill Terrace site would tip the numbers into an untenable balance.

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