QuickTake:

The county would buy a lot and shepherd it through any land use approvals before selling it to a developer. The first step, though, is to create a task force to work out the details, and the county is seeking members to serve on it.

Lane County wants to take a greater role in identifying land that can be used to develop affordable housing.

The county is starting a new housing land-banking program intended to aid affordable housing development. The county’s goal is to identify land with development potential, purchase the parcels and then then shepherd them through the necessary land-use approvals before selling them to developers. The idea is that developers can buy land from the county and start building housing sooner because the property already has navigated land-use processes.

First, the county needs to convene a task force of seven volunteers to build the framework for the program, which county commissioners approved in May.

There’s an accountability component to the work: The county will fund the program with $2 million in video lottery funding. The money can essentially be used more than once: By reselling properties and putting the money back into the program, the county can repeatedly use that funding. 

With the framework not yet complete, the task force members will help set the program’s standards for success and identify opportunities for improvements.

“What the task force is really going to be working on is: What is the goal? How well are we aligning with other adopted goals of the county? How do we measure levels of success or opportunities for improvement,” Lane County Housing Production Manager Eric Mongan said in an interview with Lookout Eugene-Springfield. “How do we ensure that we are being best stewards of these public resources and making the effect that we desire, which is to improve housing affordability?”

Affordable housing development is complex work and the program has flexibility. In theory, the county can purchase a swath of land and sell it for a combination of uses, including affordable housing, but also others like retail development or general housing.

Developers could potentially benefit from the program in ways beyond saving time in the land use process. After property goes through land use approvals, its value increases. This means if the county sells it to the developer at cost, those savings could be passed along to people who live in the new housing.

“If we can subsidize or buy down that cost by holding to what we got it for — just paying ourselves back — we’ve passed the savings along,” Mongan said.

Applicants for the task force can submit letters of interest by Feb. 9. Each of the five county commissioners will pick a task force member. The county administrator will pick the remaining two members. The task force will start meeting in March and have six to eight one-hour meetings during the next several months. Get more information.

For two decades, Ben Botkin’s journalism career saw him criss-cross the West, a path with stops in rural Idaho, Las Vegas and, now, finally, Lane County. Ben reported on local government and the statehouse in Idaho before he moved to the Bulletin in Bend and covered education in central Oregon.

Then, for four years, he covered Clark County government, which has oversight over the Las Vegas Strip, and served as the lead political reporter during the 2016 election cycle. During that time, Ben wrote about the county’s child welfare agency, law enforcement, the start of Nevada’s medical marijuana industry and homeland security. His reporting sparked the criminal indictments and convictions of three government officials, including a city animal control supervisor convicted of animal cruelty.

He also covered national stories like the 2016 armed occupation of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in eastern Oregon and the 2017 mass shooting in Las Vegas.

Since 2018, Ben has reported on Oregon state government, first for the Statesman-Journal in Salem and then for The Lund Report, a Portland-based nonprofit that covers health care. His reporting on gaps in children’s health coverage led to state Medicaid policy changes.

Most recently, Ben worked more than two years at the Oregon Capital Chronicle, where he covered criminal justice, health and human services. His work often incorporates the voices of vulnerable Oregonians from all walks of life.

As Lookout’s Politics & Policy Correspondent, Ben digs up the most intriguing and relevant stories about how Lane County decisions impact residents.