Lebanon Housing Production Strategy

Lebanon, OR | 2023

Lebanon is a former rural center and a thriving small town of nearly 20,000 in the Willamette Valley in Oregon. Within the commute shed of larger nearby cities of Corvalis and Albany, the city has experienced strong demand for housing in recent years. However, affordable homeownership options and rental housing for low income families remain unmet needs.

Cascadia Partners (CP) was selected to lead a state-required Housing Production Strategy (HPS) for the City in 2022. The firm helped Lebanon navigate the new state requirement while also crafting a plan that was rooted in local issues and needs.

CP facilitated a public engagement process that used a variety of methods to solicit input on housing strategies, including stakeholder focus groups, a community workshop, and an online survey that reached 200 participants.

CP crafted a set of nineteen strategies to facilitate housing production and meet key housing needs. Examples include encouraging smaller, single family detached housing; simplifying infill design standards; allowing impact fee payments to be deferred until occupancy; offering property tax incentives; and continuing to pursue opportunities to assist developers with wetland mitigation.

Our firm calibrated the strategies to local market conditions by using building modeling tools and financial pro-forma analysis to quantify the impact of zoning changes and financial incentives.

The City Council adopted the Housing Production Strategy in late 2023, prior to the state deadline. The City will implement the recommended strategies between 2024 and 2032.