ACTION ALERT:
OHCS LETTER WRITING NOW

DevNW is asking the Oregon Housing and Community Services (OHCS) LIFT HO (Home Ownership) Program for $8.1 Million dollars in taxpayer funding for their Floral Hill Terrace subdivision. This funding is critical in order for DevNW to move forward with the build. That’s why the timing of this letter writing campaign to their potential funders is so important.

We support affordable housing and are not reflexively anti-development but this is an inappropriate and isolated location that will not properly serve the people needing affordable housing.

The Eugene Affordable Housing Trust Fund and the Eugene City Council just declined — for the third time — to fund DevNW’s Floral Hill Terrace application. In a large part this was due to all YOUR letters pointing out the inadequate accessibility and challenges with the Floral Hill Terrace location.

Now we need to make this same argument to the State’s OHCS LIFT Home Ownership Program. There are better options for affordable housing in Eugene that would provide better services to more people and we think these other options need to be pursued, not Floral Hill Terrace.

HERE’S WHAT YOU NEED TO DO RIGHT NOW:
Funders want their money to be stewarded carefully. One of the scoring criteria that OHCS will be evaluating is PROJECT DETAILS... what are the nuts and bolts of the project. That is why our letters need to focus on the deficiencies and inaccuracies in DevNW Floral Hill Terrace Application.

HERE’S HOW TO DO IT:

• Email To: ( It’s “ho” dot development@)
  — ho.development@hcs.oregon.gov
  
• CC: (please add these two cc’s to your letter)
  — LaurelHillValleyCitizens@gmail.com
  — IsFloralHillTheRightPlace@gmail.com
  
• Subject:
  I oppose FLORAL HILL TERRACE because the PROJECT DETAILS do not do what is needed for affordable housing
  
• Salutation:
  Dear Oregon Housing and Community Services (OHCS) and LIFT HO (Home Ownership) Program,
  
• Content:
  — You can mention as many bulleted points as you want in your letter.
  — BOLD your bulleted point so it’s easy for them to find it and count it.
  — Say why you believe it is a problem and why it will not work.
  
• Close:
  — For these reasons please consider one of the other Applicants for the LIFT HO Program.
  
• Signed:
  Name,
  Address,
  Email
  

---

HERE’S WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW:

You can mention as many bullet points as you want in your letter. Usually, they will keep a tally of the number of times a specific topic or issue is brought up across all letters. To be sure all your concerns are tracked, BOLD your bullet points so each is counted.

HOW DO I START:

“These are the PROJECT DETAILS that I believe DevNW’s FLORAL HILL TERRACE Application does NOT do well on.”

Then pick and choose from the five Project Detail sections below whichever ones you feel strongest about. Mix and match. Copy and paste to get started and then personalize. Voila!

The important areas are:   1) Lack of Access to Services, 2) Transportation and Traffic, 3) Fire Safety and Street Safety, 4) Geotechnical Concerns, and 5) Inappropriate Use of Taxpayer Money.

LACK OF ACCESS TO SERVICES:

• Poor walk score of 11 out of 100.
• No affordable grocery store, closest is a Market of Choice.
• No laundromat, no pharmacy.
• No traditional schools in Laurel Hill Valley.

TRANSPORTATION and TRAFFIC

• No LTD service anywhere in the Laurel Hill Valley.
• Developer’s application even states that residents will have to rely on personal vehicles.
• Narrow residential lanes, no sidewalks, no shoulders, no bike lanes.
• Architects say it should house about 200 people, and it has parking for 100 vehicles.
• This virtually doubles the amount of traffic.

FIRE SAFETY and STREET SAFETY ISSUES:

• Narrow streets and blind curves are already troublesome for emergency vehicles.
• Adding 100 vehicles and 200 people make resident evacuation and emergency vehicle access a recipe for dangerous gridlock.
• Response time to a fire on Floral Hill Drive was 22 minutes, not the 4 minutes F.D. claims.

GEOTECHNICAL CONCERNS:

• Significant parts of Laurel Hill Valley are built on fill-land.
• There are underground springs and lots of run-off during winters.
• Landslides have already occurred and damaged three homes; one had to be demolished.
• Steep forested hillside presents landslide risk if upslope soils are disturbed.
• A full Environmental Impact Study should be required before any application is approved.

INAPPROPRIATE USE OF TAXPAYER MONEY:
These homes are being marketed as affordable home ownership for low-income buyers BUT…

• Buyers will not own the actual land; it stays with the Community Land Trust.
• Buyers pay for all the Property Taxes, even though they do not own the land.
• Monthly Ground Use Fee is like paying an HOA fee or rent for the land on top of the mortgage.
• Things a Home Owners Association would usually cover are paid for by the Buyer
   (exterior painting, building repairs, roof repairs, landscape).
• There is a CAP on any future sales price tied to the area’s median income, not market value.
• This limits a buyer’s ability to build equity unlike traditional home ownership.
• A hefty 75% portion of any profit upon sale must be paid to the Community Land Trust.

---

That’s it.
Close your letter by asking them to consider one of the other Applicants, NOT Floral Hill Terrace, for the LIFT HO Program funds. There are too many drawbacks and barriers due to this location and lack of services.
Now, give yourself a pat on the back!!!

Your letters over the past month explained to the Affordable Housing Trust Fund and the Eugene city government just what our concerns were with Floral Hill Terrace.

It worked! Thank you! We think it will work again!

---

DevNW’s Floral Hill Terrace is on a waitlist for the 2027 funding cycle. OHCS has taken a serious look at their request for funds from last year but they remain uncommitted at the moment.

The OHCS’s focus should be on the needs of low-income residents, not subsidizing DevNW’s costs to build the wrong project in the wrong place.

We will be going to the Capitol in Salem when it comes time for Public Testimony. Subscribe to our EMAIL UPDATES and we will keep you posted!

THANKS FOR WRITING
AND PLEASE SHARE THE NEED
FOR MORE LETTERS WITH YOUR FRIENDS!

---