Bend 2030 corrects affordable-housing survey results

Bend 2030 has released an amended version of its Housing Affordability Report to reflect a change in the results of one question on a recent housing affordability survey.

But the group said its overall recommendations on solutions to the housing affordability crisis remain unchanged.

Question 13 of the Bend 2030 Housing Affordability Survey, conducted last fall presented participants with 22 possible solutions to create more affordable housing in Bend.

“Thepossible answers to this question were incorrectly weighted,” the group said, “leadingsolutions that were actually less supported to appearmore widely accepted in the initial review of the survey results.”

The results of Question 13 have been re-analyzed, they said, and three noteworthy items have emerged:

1.A small fee on water and sewer bills is not strongly supported.This option is ranked 21 out of 22 on the list of possible solutions, with just 42 percent of people saying they would be very likely or likely to support it. Bend 2030 had previously encouraged the Bend City Council to seek further public input on this option. That recommendation has been withdrawn from the amended report.

2.Support for the expansion of the urban growth boundary is slightly weaker than was initially expected.This solution still received strong support on the survey, but less than originally reported. About 58 percent of people said they were very likely or likely to support this solution. There was additional strong support for expansion of the urban growth boundary on Question 14 of the survey. On that question, more people listed that solution as their No. 1 option than any of the other seven solutions offered. Bend 2030 continues to recommend that the City of Bend take action to ensure that new residential lands become available for development.

3. Delaying the construction of parks and recreation in order to dedicate more funds to affordable housing received weak support. This option ranked 18th on the list of 22 solutions presented in Question 13, indicating a lack of support for this approach.

Bend 2030 said it is committed to a transparent public process, which provides decision-makers with quality, independent information reflecting the values and opinions of the people of our community.

Bend 2030 has partnered with a professional statistician from OSU-Cascades to ensure accurate design and interpretation of surveys in the future.

View the amended report and learn more about Bend 2030 at Bend2030.org and Facebook.com/Bend2030 .