Housing Needs Analysis (HNA)

Background

Oregon Revised Statutes (ORS) 197.175 requires cities to prepare, adopt and implement comprehensive plans consistent with statewide planning goals adopted by the Land Conservation and Development Commission (LCDC).

Statewide Planning Goal 10 “Housing” is to provide for the housing needs of citizens of the state.

ORS 197.295-314 & 197.475-490 and Oregon Administrative Rules (OAR) 660-008 implement Goal 10, and the OAR requires that cities have housing needs analyses to ensure opportunity for the provision of adequate numbers of needed housing units, the efficient use of buildable land within urban growth boundaries (UGBs), and to provide greater certainty in the development process so as to reduce housing costs.

History

The previous HNA informed the urban growth boundary (UGB) expansion that the Council adopted in December 2015; however, because the City first attempted UGB expansion adoption in 2005 that was long litigated, and because the housing data that support the expansion date from between the late 1990s and 2000, that HNA was almost two decades old.

Objectives

The Housing Needs Analysis (HNA) objectives are to plan for the next 20 years (to 2039) to:

Guide decisions to ensure future growth is orderly, and efficient
Ensure adequate land is inside of the UGB to accommodate projected housing growth
Consider housing policies the city could consider to improve housing availability and affordability, and
Update and develop long-range planning policies in a manner that preserves the character of the city and helps achieve a high quality of life.

The Planning Commission was the project advisory committee for the HNA long-range planning project. The City Council is the body that would adopt amendments to plans, policies, or the Woodburn Development Ordinance (WDO) that act upon the HNA. The Commission began discussion of recommended measures in Appendix B on May 23, continued it on July 25, and concluded it Thursday, September 26 with a recommendation to the City Council that the Council adopt it.

Next the City Council reviewed the HNA during an October 28 work session and tentatively approved it, directing staff to return it to the Council for a public hearing with Appendix B (the recommended measures) severed and to prepare an adoption ordinance. The Council on December 9, 2019 adopted Ordinance No. 2576.

The Social Context

An HNA is basically about housing supply and dwelling types. The affordability of housing derives from many factors besides supply and dwelling types, most of which are outside City jurisdiction. Nonetheless, it helps to have an overview of how planning, zoning, and urban design influence housing supply.

Staff recommends that interested parties read the following online descriptions: