Bend council approves $5 million for affordable-housing

Anyone on a rental hunt in Bend right now knows how tough, and expensive, it can be.

“There is virtually no housing here for rent. If you can find something, grab it immediately, because it is a very, very tight market. Rent prices have skyrocketed in the last three to five years. Basically anywhere from 50 to 100 percent increase in rent,” said Jim Long, the city’s affordable-housing manager, said Friday.

The Bend City Council is hoping to alleviate that problem.

The council approved $5 million in local contributions Wednesday to increase the affordable housing supply.

“What that means is we’re not talking pass-through funding from the federal or state, this is all local. That’s unprecedented in a city this size in Oregon, and unprecedented in a city this size in the western United States, that I know of,” Long said.

The details of the latest city efforts plan can be found here:

http://bendoregon.gov/index.aspx?page=29&recordid=1698&returnurl=%2findex.aspx

Long said the city understands the need for more housing and knows much more needs to be done to address it.

“It’s all incremental. These projects that you’re seeing now, they won’t be constructed until spring; however, we have other projects coming online right now. So, it’s all an ongoing process. We’re never stopping.”