Ollie Court shows how neighborhood associations are a force for progress

Too often neighborhood associations are labeled reactionary obstructive NIMBYs. As someone once explained to me: “Neighbors are too self-interested to make the right decisions on land use.”

Setting aside that everyone is self-interested, neighborhood associations represent residents, property owners and businesses. All are deeply invested not only in their physical assets, but their emotional connection to a place and their neighbors. As generalists, neighborhood associations often run up against advocates who narrowly focus on one issue. Neighborhood associations look to our small part of the big picture and how challenges and potential solutions balance out. Often, you can achieve desired social benefits while meeting the legitimate concerns of neighbors. This includes building affordable housing.

On a sunny, breezy April day, city and county leaders, staff, residents and neighbors gathered at Ollie Court for its grand opening. Ollie Court, on 14th Avenue near Chambers Street, includes 80 units of affordable housing with 163 bedrooms and an early learning center. Ollie Court is perfectly situated in a walkable neighborhood near schools, churches, parks, mass transit and shopping.

Bringing this innovative project to fruition has been a long process. In 2012, Paul Conte, then chair of the Jefferson Westside Neighbors, collaborated with Richard Herman, who at the time was executive director of Metropolitan Affordable Housing (now Cornerstone Community Housing), to engage the community in support of a multi-generational, family-friendly subsidized housing project at what was known as the old Navy Reserve site. Later, Jefferson Westside Chair Stephen Heider fought to keep the city of Eugene from selling that property.

Coming out of the recession, Eugene had not yet woken up to the emerging housing crisis and declined to support the project. It was also during this timeframe that Jefferson Westside Neighbors developed its innovative special area zones, creating opportunities for compatible infill and new housing types such as alley access housing, while protecting neighborhood livability. Jefferson Westside had the largest concentration of so-called “missing middle housing” in Eugene for years before it became a cause célèbre. 

Fast forward to 2019. Homes for Good Director Jacob Fox reached out to me, as Jefferson Westside Neighbors chair, about building permanent supportive housing at 13th Avenue and Tyler Street. Jefferson Westside Neighbors managed the public process and together we created a Good Neighborhood Agreement to set expectations and facilitate communication.

The result was the Keystone Apartments and the start of a productive relationship between Homes for Good and our neighborhood association. After an unsanctioned homeless camp at the old Navy Reserve site caused serious negative impacts in that neighborhood during the pandemic, the Jefferson Westside board decided to revisit affordable housing at that location.

The board began the complex process of revising the neighborhood refinement plan to allow that use. About that time, state and local governments finally caught up with the need and changed land-use rules that allowed for affordable housing without changing the zoning. Jefferson Westside Neighbors reached out to Homes for Good about developing the property.

That discussion led to a happy stakeholder alignment. Homes for Good had been interested in that site and neighbors wanted it occupied. Neighbors expressed a desire to include an early learning component for any affordable housing development. Early Childhood CARES, which provides early special education to infants, toddlers and preschool-age children along with Head Start, already had begun a discussion with Homes for Good about integrating early learning and childcare into affordable housing.

Jefferson Westside Neighbors facilitated the public process at the Eugene Faith Center. Also supporting the project were Eugene Faith Center, César Chávez Elementary School/Eugene School District 4J, the Unitarian Universalist Church, then-Ward 1 City Councilor Emily Semple, and County Commissioner Laurie Trieger.

The Eugene City Council approved it. Despite inserting two four-story apartment buildings in the middle of an already dense residential neighborhood, no one testified against it. A tribute to good public process.

Ollie Court is a major milestone in the evolution of affordable housing and providing support to families with children. The process that brought together stakeholders, especially neighbors, in addressing our city’s most pressing needs illustrates how collaboration based on mutual respect, listening to neighbor concerns and getting stakeholder buy-in can deliver needed housing.

Neighborhood associations like Jefferson Westside Neighbors are linchpins in this process, as we are positioned to build mutual understanding as well as manage public involvement, mediate conflicts and foster solutions via Good Neighbor Agreements — like those in place for the Keystone and Ollie Court.

This is how we build inclusive communities where people want to live.