Climate-Friendly Areas Evaluation Report

Medford Climate Friendly Area Study – Evalua Ɵon of Candidate Loca Ɵons Revised December 2023 15 Within Downtown Medford, there is currently a mi x of aging housing types, with some limited new development. Privately owned market-rate ho using in and adjacent to downtown will continue to be at risk for possible occupant displacement. However, the City supports the development of a range of housing types for households with low and moderate incomes and efforts are being made to attract additional residential development in Downtown on properties that are underutilized and not currently used for housing. Within the Downtown Medford boundary area the Housing Authority of Jackson County (HAJC) manages 50 subsidized units that will no t be impacted. The conversion of motel units to residential units is also o ccurring with city-provided gr ant assistance. Several other regulated a ffordable housing developments are loca ted in area “A”. Like the HAJC development, these units have long-term a ffordability requirements and are unlikely to be converted to market-rate rental units. An evaluation of the existing number of resid ential units was conducted based on utility accounts. It is estimated that there are 623 re sidential dwelling unit s within the downtown study areas including both subareas (A2 and A3). If yes, to question above, what are some of the potential mitigation strategies to avoid displacement that would be feasible to implement? The City o ffers funds for the construction or rehabi litation of housing through the Housing Opportunity Fund (HOF) which is a ffordable to households earning up to 120% of area median income. A portion of the HOF is restrict ed to housing development projects that are affordable to households earning 60% or less of AMI. To advance a ffordable housing in new developments within the proposed CFA, the ci ty also has a Vertical Housing Development Zone and a Multiple Unit Property Tax Exemption (MUPTE) program. Most of candidate area “A” is coincident wi th Medford’s current Urban Renewal District boundary. Medford Urban Renewal Agency has invested signi ficantly in higher density housing in downtown, including the aforementi oned 62-unit apartment building that is nearing completion. This development is site d on a former public parking lot, avoiding displacement of existing residents and prov iding a new housing option for households earning between 80 to 120 percent of AMI. To identify if the study area may impact vulner able populations, we used the Census Climate Resilience Estimate, the DLCD An ti-Displacement Toolkit and GIS data. The proposed primary CFA (Downtown Medford) is adjacent to a high proportion of rentals and low-income households. The spillover economic pressures of land value may leave these households at risk of displacement, due to in creased development pressures. Are the current land use requirements in this study area close to the land use requirements necessary to comply with OAR 660-012-0320?