Yachats Housing Needs Analysis and Implementation Plan

Yachats, OR | 2023

Yachats is a small community nestled in the dramatic landscape of the central coast of Oregon. While the town is a thriving vacation and tourism destination, it lacks affordable housing options for its local workforce and aging population.

Cascadia Partners (CP), partnering with FCS Group, was selected to lead a Housing Needs Analysis (HNA) for the city in 2022. The city desired to evaluate housing needs, assess land supply, and consider strategies to facilitate housing production, choice, and affordability.

CP helped the City facilitate an equitable public engagement process that used a variety of methods to solicit input on housing needs and strategies, including an online survey which garnered 142 responses and a community forum.

The team’s land supply analysis identified a lack of capacity for multi-family housing and medium density housing relative to projected needs. CP developed and analyzed the impacts of four alternative concepts for code and map amendments to increase capacity for these housing types.

The team crafted a set of seven recommended land use strategies to address needed housing. Examples include reducing minimum lot size requirements, increasing maximum density, reducing parking requirements, and establishing a minimum density standard in higher density zones.

The firm designed the HNA report to include both a public-friendly, 20-page summary report and a robust set of technical appendices. The HNA was broadly supported by the Planning Commission and City Council.