Conducting a Housing Condition Assessment with ArcPad:
The West University Neighborhood in Eugene, Oregon
Assistant Professor: Marc Schlossberg
Graduate Students: Zachary Phillips and Darren Wyss
Planning, Public Policy and Management (PPPM)


Project Summary - Methods

The following summary is taken directly from the final report of the project.

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.


  Main Community-Based GIS with ArcPad Page  
       
Neighborhood GIS Walkability GIS Housing Condition GIS Teaching GIS

   

   

 For more information:
 Marc Schlossberg
 541-346-2046
 schlossb@uoregon.edu
http://www.uoregon.edu/~schlossb/PPPM/

   

Last edited on: December 07, 2004