<body><div><figure><img src="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&amp;url=2FyzgF_1FaIzOMg00" alt="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=2FyzgF_1FaIzOMg00" width="960" height="1200" ><figcaption>Sofia Campbell/Emerald</figcaption></figure>The new dorm building rising on East 17th Avenue and Moss Street will provide 804 beds to primarily first-year students as part of the first phase of University Housing’s Next Generation Housing Development Plan. The second phase includes another site expected to have 815 beds oriented to upper-division undergrad students. On May 11, the Eugene City Council approved the code amendment and zoning change needed to move that forward.Three days later, on May 14, the university announced a $65 million budget shortfall driven by a decline in enrollment. Since then, future development has been on hold.Michael Griffel, Director of Housing, and Michael Harwood, associate vice president for Campus Planning and Facilities Management, explained that “additional phases will be implemented based upon the needs of students and funding available,” and that “for now, we’re putting further plans on hold.” A fully planned project that just cleared its last legal hurdle is now waiting for University Housing to decide its future.This pause on university housing development matters for students already dealing with the broader Eugene housing market. Currently, according to the City of Eugene’s own rent assessment, the average studio apartment is $1,408 a month. A household would need to make $56,000 a year to afford one and not be cost-burdened, an income that’s out of the question for a college student.On-campus housing is comparable in cost, once you account for the fact that its rate includes food. The off-campus housing price is rent alone, before groceries and transportation costs to get to campus. Plus, those transportation costs could quickly skyrocket if you decide to use a car as your mode of choice, with insurance, gas, and a parking pass stretching money thin.Upper-division students currently navigating this market are the population Christina Bollo, a UO architecture professor and the director of Housing Specialization, described as needing more choices than they currently have. She characterized Eugene’s off-campus market as kind of predatory when it comes to the student population. University housing projects aimed at providing more options to returning students would be a strong move towards unburdening them.What makes University Housing’s choice to put plans on hold much harder to justify is that their budget isn’t short. According to Griffel and Harwood, the housing budget is “entirely funded by the room and board students pay.” Pausing housing development won’t free up any money to correct UO’s general fund budget deficit. Additionally, phase two and future plans are focused on providing housing options for upper-division and graduate students, so those plans shouldn’t be stalled just because freshman enrollment is low. These are the kinds of projects that should be prioritized. The needs of students haven’t gone anywhere, and University Housing can see that. There are no barriers left for phase two, or the rest of the plan for that matter, other than University Housing.</div></body>

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The new dorm building rising on East 17th Avenue and Moss Street will provide 804 beds to primarily first-year students as part of the first phase of University Housing’s Next Generation Housing Development Plan. The second phase includes another site expected to have 815 beds oriented to upper-division undergrad students. On May 11, the Eugene City Council approved the code amendment and zoning change needed to move that forward.

Novak: University Housing should push forward with East Campus development

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The new dorm building rising on East 17th Avenue and Moss Street will provide 804 beds to primarily first-year students as part of the first phase of Unive

Novak: University Housing should push forward with East Campus development

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