One-third of Redmond residents severely rent-burdened

A third of the households in Redmond are defined as “severely rent-burdened,” and like their bigger neighbor to the south, Bend, the city and other organizations are looking for ways to boost affordable housing and ease the crunch.

“Rent burden” is when more than 30 percent of a person’s gross income goes toward housing. Severe rent burden is defined as when a family pays more than 50 percent of its income for rent.

Tuesday night’s Redmond City Council meeting focused on ways to help families who are considered severely rent-burdened.

Thirty percent of the population in Redmond is living at poverty rate and the average price of a home is nearly $300,000.

Redmond City Manager Keith Witcosky said the city already has projects in motion to work toward tackling the problem.

“We’re doing a partnership right now on a project with Housing Works. It’s a 48-family unit that’s going to be built right in our mid-town area at 5th and Greenwood,” Witcosky said earlier Tuesday.

The city is also working to get legislation to bring more land into the urban growth boundary. It’s a program for which Bend was recently selected, over Redmond. If Redmond is also allowed to participate, it would allow them build a 4,500-unit neighborhood.

As city officials are working to build more affordable housing options, NeighborImpact, a 21 Cares for Kids Partner, is trying to help people stay in their homes. They offer two rental-assistance programs.

The short-term rental-assistance program is designed to help pay rent in situations when someone has received a 72-hour eviction notice.

Molly Heiss, director of housing stabilization at NeighborImpact said, there is a growing need in Redmond for this kind of help.

“There’s a 10 percent higher need, or rent burden, in Redmond vs. Bend. And while the population here is bigger, there does appear to be a pretty significant rent burden there.”

She said she believes this is due to the larger amount of high-density housing available in Bend, and the fact utilities are typically the tenants’ responsibly in a single-family home.

There is another local organization that wants to help out. A church located in southern Bend does a Christmas project every year–one international and one local.

This year, for the first time, they partnered with Habitat for Humanity to help build a home in Bend for a family in need.

Brandon Blumberg, the lead pastor at New Hope Church, said, “The story of this family just touched us, single mom with a daughter — and she’s actually living in Redmond right now and is struggling to pay rent. It’s not a great situation. There’s mushrooms growing in the carpet, which is unbelievable. So we said we want to help out.”

Not only is New Hope Church donating financially, they’re helping build the home, as well. Members of the church have volunteered to do all kinds of projects — from swinging a hammer to more technical jobs with licensed plumbers and electricians.