BEND, OR -- Kôr Community Land Trust will build seven new homes in Southwest Bend’s Poplar Community in an effort to aid Bend’s affordable housing crunch. The development is a pilot project where employers help workers purchase their first home by covering some closing costs.

Kôr Executive Director Jackie Keogh says everyone feels the pinch from a lack of workforce housing, “As a community-based non-profit we wanted to be part of the solution to that. So, Kôr was able to get the first preference of its kind to give priority in select homes to our local workforce.”

The homes will be built with sustainability in mind. “What Kôr believes is that income shouldn’t negate choice in that our homebuyers should have the same access to these high-quality designs, as anyone else does. The only difference is we’re selling them for much less. Our average purchase prices are going to be $250,000,” according to Keogh, adding the southwest Bend location was carefully chosen, “Kôr is really excited to bring geographic equity to the city of Bend in terms of where it’s affordable housing is built. The majority of our pipeline is now going to be on the Bend westside. So that our homebuyers have access to walkability, schools, trails, and greenspace that any market rate buyer has on the westside.”

The Bend Chamber of Commerce, and its partners are sponsoring four of those new homes. The sponsorship helps support the difference between the cost to build these homes and what income-qualified home buyers can afford.

Employers and their home-buying employees must meet eligibility requirements. The employer application process opens on February 1st.