BEND, OR -- Four affordable housing projects are slated to get underway in Bend. The City Council last week gave the nod to $900,000 in loans to the projects.
Jim Long, the city's Affordable Housing Manager, told councilors the committee carefully considered a number of criteria before selecting which projects to help fund. "There are four very good projects in there. The committee really parsed through these [applications] this year pretty hard and they were basically looking for two things: those that could get on the ground fastest and those that could get the most units up."
Housing Works plans to build two homes; Habitat For Humanity expects to purchase one lot to build on; private developer Steven Rzonca is set to build seven units near downtown Bend; and, Pacific Crest is slated to build a 48-unit apartment complex on Bend's west side.
Councilor Victor Chudowsky is especially excited about the Pacific Crest Project. "I'm just happy to see the largest one is on the west side. I've been hearing more and more things from people that we expand only to the east side, in terms of the UGB because supposedly housing is cheaper over there. I'm glad to see this 48-unit project coming up on the west side. It shows that we can build affordable housing anywhere throughout the city."
The funds come from a fee the city levies through building permits. Loans are often no- or low-interest.