BEND, OR -- Community leaders gathered Thursday at the site of a new home going up at 15th and Wilson in Bend.
"Our workforce housing initiative was really born about 3 and a half years ago when we took a look around and studied our employers and they said one of the biggest barriers to recruiting and retaining talent here in Central Oregon was the cost of housing", says Sara Odendahl, with the Bend Chamber, "What we've done in terms of education with our social media campaign, advocacy with our state policy work and then investments with a project just like this are trying to help move the needle with our partners: public, private, nonprofit."
Providence Health Plan provided the seed money for Hiatus Homes and Cascade Precision Homes to secure a low-cost construction loan through Mid Oregon Credit Union.
Those partnerships are key because this type of workforce housing is largely unsubsidized. "The market is not able to actually build given our current economic constraints. So, it's really important for us to be able to assist and help provide that extra subsidy to get some of these projects over the line to pencil." Odendahl says, adding it's part of a 'try everything' approach to solving the housing crisis.
The house will remain deed-restricted for families earning up to 120% of the area median income and work in Bend.
It will be universally-designed, fitting all abilities and ages, and build to last. "One of our key initiatives at Habitat for Humanity is sustainability and really that's what we're looking at in creating homes, not just for the first buyer but for the community in the long run," says Habitat for Humanity's Carly Colgan.
The new owners are expected to move in later this year.
The Bend Chamber partners with non-profit housing organizations like Habitat for Humanity, builders, developers, and employers to identify land throughout the city of Bend to utilize the Loan, resulting in lower costs passed on to the buyer. The loan fund is funded through philanthropic contributions to the BendNEXT Foundation, the 501(c)3 foundation of the Bend Chamber.
