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- Subscribe - Contact Us - Rate Card - Place an Ad Archives Revels Classifieds Real Estate Menu Guide Wedding Weather Subscribe Contact Us July 3, 2006 Apartments on Beach Street across from Lincoln School have recently been converted to condos. Photos by Orville Hector | Daily Tidings Urgent effort to save affordable rentals may be ‘10 years too late’ By Robert Plain Ashland Daily Tidings Those who work in town but live somewhere else know the Ashland rush hour routine well. Living in Ashland • The most recent sale of a condominium that was recently converted was for $303,000 • The average single family home has risen in cost from approximately $117,208 in 1996 to 472,500 in 2006. essentially a house sells for four times what it did 10 years ago. Over that same time period, the median income has increased by 53 percent, from $34,600 to $52,900. • To purchase a median income home, with a 10 percent down payment, a household must earn $129,000 annually to afford the monthly $3,000 payment (assumes 6.5% at 30yr fixed) Recent condo conversions • Park Street: 10 units, an application for 30 more • Glendale Street: 7 units • Chestnut Street: 24 units • North Main Street: 11 units • Beach Street: 4 units • South Mountain Avenue: 4 units • East Main Street: 4 units “If you go out at 7 in the morning, you see a line of cars coming into Ashland,” said Planning Commission Chair John Fields said, speaking of the need for more rental units in town. “The question is, why aren’t people building new apartments in Ashland? The answer is fairly obvious. Where is the money for it? How do we leverage it?” On June 27 the planning commission and the Ashland Housing Commission got together for a joint study session to work on a way to protect the stock of rental housing still available in Ashland. Fields added, “People who don’t have equity and can’t buy into the market are forced to rent.” Brandon Goldman, Ashland’s Housing Specialist, reported to the group that during the last five years Ashland has gained only 16 apartment units. Though 55 new apartments were built during that period, another 39 existing apartments were converted to condominiums. “There was a shortage in 2001 and it’s being exacerbated every year,” he said, noting that the city identified a shortage in rental property in its 2001 buildable lands survey. One of the latest growth trends in Ashland has been converting for rent apartments to for sale condos. On Park Street, 10 apartments were recently given approval to convert to 10 condos. On Glendale Street, 7 apartments were converted to 7 condos. On Chestnut Street 24 apartments were recently converted to 24 condos. 11 more units were converted on North Main Street and four more apiece on Beach Street, South Mountain Avenue and East Main Street. And more recently, the city received an application for another 30 unit conversion on Park Street. While the demand for housing ownership in Ashland makes this trend a good financial strategy for a developer or someone looking to buy real estate, that it also pulls housing away from the rental market makes it more daunting for someone who can’t afford to own property but would still prefer to live here. “It’s a phenomenon unique to Ashland, and maybe Lake Oswego,” Interim planning director Bill Molnar said, “where the market no longer meets the needs of the entire community.” Goldman, who has been working with the housing commission to address this situation, added, “What we are doing is favoring ownership over rental. I don’t know how else to say it.” The result, Goldman said, has been “tenant displacement.” The group agreed that, while local classified advertisements seem to show many rental units available in Ashland, this may be a result of a high turnover rate rather than a market glut. The two commissions agreed to have city staff work on ordinance language that would likely put restrictions on the conversion of apartments to condominiums. San Diego, Los Angeles and Boulder, Colorado have similar ordinances, Goldman said in his presentation. Planning Commissioner Michael Dawkins, who used to live in Aspen, Colo., said he saw “this same movie play out” in that town as it became more unaffordable for the working class. “How many people have been displaced by the way our market works?” he asked. Fields said, “The urgency is there. I’m not denying we are 10 years too late.” Staff writer Robert Plain can be reached at 482-3456 x. 226 or [email protected]. . DailyTidings.com Home Page Archives | Revels | Classifieds | Real Estate Guide | Weather | Subscribe | Contact Us Copyright 2005 Ashland Daily Tidings and Ottaway Newspapers All Rights Reserved Click Here Advertisement .:Advertisements:. Site Search: RESOURCES - Mail Tribune News - ODOT Road Cams