REDMOND, OR -- Central Oregon’s lack of housing inventory continues to plague local businesses. 

Bruce Barrett, with Windermere Commercial Real Estate, says some companies want to expand and bring in new talent, if they could find somewhere to live, “A Milken Institute 2022 report that said Redmond, for example, is one of the best performing cities in resiliency and opportunity. Redmond is fifth in the nation for employment growth, ranked third for five-year wage growth, third for five-year high tech GDP growth; so, we can see that there’s a demand, and there’s some people who want to come.”

Barrett believes the Governor’s proposal to create 36,000 homes a year over ten years could help, but development could be limited in Central Oregon, “I think it’s going to be a challenge for us, because of our limitation of resources, especially land.”

Companies wanting to expand find it hard to attract new talent, according to Barrett, “I’ve heard from some of the large employers in the area that that’s their big problem. They can tap into some resources from out of the area, and people want to move here, but they don’t have a place to live.”

He’s launched an initiative he thinks could help; working with large employers in the region, “Contract rental arrangement with some multi-family housing, so they would be the master landlord and they would provide this housing resource to people they’re trying to recruit.”

Barrett believes it would allow companies to grow, with the guarantee new staff can find housing.