Emerald THE DAILY
THURSDAY, JAN. 8, 2026
INDEPENDENT JOURNALISM PRODUCED BY STUDENTS, FOR STUDENTS
ARTS & CULTURE
OPINION
You need to see ‘Marty Supreme’
Read story on page 8
Nag: What cities can do against ICE Read story on page 17
HOUSING MARKET
Looking back, looking ahead: The state of affordable housing in Eugene Reflecting on what the city of Eugene has done to address the lack of affordable housing, and an overview of what citizens can expect in 2026. By Joseph Chiu
Associate News Editor
Eugene Mayor Kaarin Knudson’s 2025 “State of the City” address, she stated her goal to build 1,000 new units of housing over the next five years in Eugene, with at least 200 units in the Downtown Core area. This past year, over 500 units of new affordable housing were catalyzed by city support, according to Knudson, meaning projects began or were accelerated through the help of the city government, which was a priority for her entering 2025. Knudson said that Eugene has a lot of housing unit projects in the pipeline, including affordable housing, workforce housing and market-rate housing. These include housing units that have been planned or are in progress, but not yet completed. “I’m really happy to see the continued partnerships that we’re developing for workforce and market-rate housing across the community and in downtown,” Knudson said. “But I think that we can do more and I’m looking forward Continue story on page 13
transportation.uoregon.edu/bus
NEWS
UO splits RA role in two, eliminates full room and board compensation The Resident Assistant roles across campus are to be split in two, with student workers now having to pay for a discounted room rather than earning free board. By Reilly Norgren
News Editor
At the start of the 2026-27 academic year, resident assistant roles at the University of Oregon will look different. Two focused Residential Education Student Worker positions will be created from the original RA role. Effectively, the original role has been split in two, Community Assistants and Community Safety Assistants. CAs will be responsible for helping students transition to university life by planning events and building connections. CSAs will be more focused on community safety, emergency response, policy enforcement and maintaining a secure living environment. This “reimagining” aims to “create a more sustainable experience” for the students taking on these roles by balancing the responsibility between two people. According to the university, this will also result in the ability to hire more students. The new roles will receive compensation differently. CAs will receive 65% credit toward a double-occupancy room and a meal plan. They will also have a roommate, which they can select or be paired with randomly. CSAs will be given an 85% credit toward a single-occupancy room and a meal plan. CSAs will normally not have a roommate, but may be assigned one due to over-occupancy. In this case, they will be given a 90% credit toward a room. Rooms and meal plans for RESWs are determined to be the cost of the most commonly available standard double room rate and standard meal plan assignable across UO Housing. Room and meal plan costs are updated annually. Previously, students employed as RAs had room and board fully paid for, and received an additional stipend. Under the new roles, CAs and CSAs will only have discounted rooms and will be responsible for paying their room costs.