The West
University Neighborhood (WUN)
includes a mixture of housing types and is a key location for University
of Oregon students. The neighborhood has gone through a significant
transition over the past decade—most notably the conversation of large
homes to multiple dwellings and the razing of homes for apartment
development. This project has two separate, but related, components. The
first is an external housing condition assessment; the second is a random
sample survey of WUN households. The primary purpose of this project was
to evaluate the extent to which substandard conditions exist in West
University area dwellings.
Methods
Community Planning Workshop (CPW),
an applied service-learning component of the department of Planning,
Public Policy and Management (PPPM)
at the University of Oregon, developed a matrix that assigned a numerical
rank to the condition of different housing elements. The eight elements
included in the assessment were:
- Foundation
- Stairs
- Rails, and porches
- Roof, gutters, downspouts,
and chimney
- Exterior surfaces
- Windows and doors
- Driveway
- Sidewalk
- Landscaping
The external housing condition assessment was completed in July 2004.
It included the evaluation of 485 residential properties in the WUN. CPW
administered the survey by mail to a sample of 1,200 addresses within the
WUN. The sample was drawn from the Lane County Address file managed by the
Lane Council of Governments. This database includes records for all known
addresses in Lane County. CPW administered the survey in early June 2004.
The survey addressed the following topics:
Household demographics
including age, employment, gender, and household size;
- Crowding;
- Length of residency;
- Age and condition of
housing;
- Mortgaged or rental value of
current housing; and
- Household income and cost
burden.
Of the 1,200 addresses included in the initial sample, 277 surveys were
returned as undeliverable.1
Netting the undeliverable
addresses out yields a sample size of 933. CPW received 174 valid survey
responses for a 19% response rate.
Click here for the findings. |