REDMOND, OR -- The state Housing Council has approved funds for 13 affordable housing projects around the state. In Central Oregon, Housing Works will use those funds to oversee two new developments for seniors in the Redmond area.

Tom Kemper, Housing Works Executive Director, tells KBND there is a big need. "It's creating 48 new homes and 8 newly rehabbed homes for residents here in Redmond, which is a big deal. Some of them are probably in single-family homes that they've been in forever. Presumably, that will create an opportunity for young families to buy into a house or rent a house."
 

The bigger project will be a four-story building adjacent to the Lowe's parking lot off of Veteran's Way. The rehabbed property is about a block away, and is an eight-unit development built in 1977. 

Kemper says now that the funding is available, it's full steam ahead. "Hopefully we'll start construction by the end of the year or the beginning of 2016, with the idea that we can have the property built by the end of the year, 2016."  He adds, "It's going to be a very nice property. Our rents will vary between $428 to $557; they will be very attractive from a renter's standpoint." To be eligible, applicants must earn less than $30,000 a year.