BEND, OR -- Housing projects funded with grant money distributed by Deschutes County in 2023 are starting to spring up around the area. County Commissioner Phil Chang says, "Money that the county contributed to affordable and workforce housing projects, the American Rescue Plan, start to get put on the ground. And there are hundreds of units of housing that are under construction because of those public investments that the county has made." Chang adds, "Other funds that the county invested is going into land purchases across Bend, Redmond, Sisters."

Now, he says, he's looking ahead to more housing in 2024, "There’s a lot of focus on affordable housing - we’re certainly not producing enough of it. But there’s also a real need for this missing middle housing, as well." Middle housing is often called workforce housing. It frequently refers to townhomes, duplexes and tri-plexes, as well as cluster cottages. Chang tells KBND News, "The county decided to invest a million dollars over a two year period in missing middle housing. So, housing for homeownership that’s available only to people in the 80-120% of Area Median Income bracket."