What We Need: The City has several policies in place that encourage the development of affordable housing. We must continue to build on those efforts by developing partnerships that ensure that affordable housing (for both low and middle income families) is built and that our community offers access to affordable child care, transportation, and utilities.

Affordability is top of mind for many people in Ashland - as it is for people in other communities across the Pacific Northwest. The people of Ashland have consistently invested in parks, schools, and services. In the process, we’ve created a sweet little town and a lot of people want to live here. That’s a good thing.

That demand has driven housing prices up significantly over the last twenty years. The median cost of purchasing a home in Ashland has gone from $220,000 in 2000 to $544,000 in the summer of 2024, yet median income is only $67,439 a year (US Census Bureau 2016-2020 American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates).

Housing availability for renters is a serious issue. We have a very low vacancy rate for rental housing in town and rents have been skyrocketing as a result. Chronic housing stress isn’t good for individuals, families, local economies, or communities in general.

To address the issue fully, we need to define it. Affordable housing is a specific term used in government programs to ensure that people with low income have housing. It includes efforts to develop multi-family housing, HUD’s Section 8 housing subsidy program, and other direct housing supports. Some of that housing is in the pipeline in Ashland and we must continue to support the development of even more.  

When we are talking about housing that a teacher, firefighter, or similar profession or trade can afford, that is something entirely different, but also important, particularly if we want to maintain the character of Ashland as a family friendly community.

To move these efforts forward, the City of Ashland updated the Housing Element of our Comprehensive Plan, and completed a Housing Needs Analysis. Building on both of these efforts, we were the first in the state to complete our Housing Production Strategy and staff and council worked to ensure that the strategy integrated with our climate goals.

The City has taken other actions to address affordability as well, including:

• Supporting the development of a new, local Community Land Trust because we need a low-income housing developer to partner with if we are to build the housing Ashland needs

• Working with the likely developers of the Croman Mill site to ensure that the development meets our residential and economic development goals

• Requesting a congressional appropriation to purchase local lots for developing affordable housing

We can create more affordable housing that is good for the climate and less expensive over time for tenants if we work together with local builders and get creative with financing options.

We must also address the other issues of affordability, including child care, transportation, and utility payments. Weatherization programs designed to address the climate crisis can be focused first on low-income housing to help lower their utility bills and make their homes more comfortable. Other synergies can be found if

we know what issues we are trying to solve as we determine what to do with sites, such as Briscoe School and the B Street Yard. I was pleased to bring forward to Council a proposal to issue an RFP for local partners to come forward to help develop modest units above the Hargadine parking structure.

Progress

In the meantime, we are seeing some project move forward. The apartment complex has been finished on the corner of Park and Siskiyou, a housing development is going in on South Mountain Street with some affordable units, supportive housing was constructed on Ashland Street, and Council approved including additional housing in the Croman Mill master plan. There are several other larger housing developments at various stages of approval as well.

The City has also initiated the Early Childhood Affordability Grant Program to address early learning and childcare affordability for Ashland’s working families.

Next Steps

We must continue to take an aggressive role in creating the housing that the housing market will not provide for our community by partnering to develop needed housing, while updating our Transportation System Plan to ensure that Ashlanders can move about town affordably, and continuing to find ways to assist low income residents with utility costs and childcare.