Challenge of high housing costs the leading topic at Wyden roundtable with C.O. food, drink producers

'Fruit is literally not going to get harvested, because there is no one cutting the fruit.'

BEND, Ore. (KTVZ) -- When two-dozen Central Oregon food and beverage small business owners sat down for a roundtable Monday with Sen. Ron Wyden, the Oregon Democrat heard a no-doubt familiar refrain about their biggest concern: high housing prices and the serious hiring challenges they bring.

The Senator Finance Committee chair held the gathering at Deschutes Brewery as part of his statewide tour with the Oregon Business Council, to hear about how he might be able to help keep generating jobs in the region and growing their markets.

John Charles of Prineville, the owner of John-John's BBQ Sauce, was among those voicing his concern about the lack of affordable housing.

"For small businesses, when we are hiring people, the last thing we want them to worry about is a place to go home to," Charles said. "And so with affordable housing, it is very ,very important for our small businesses.”

 Maragas Winery of Culver is one of the many High Desert businesses that struggle to find employees, due to significant housing costs.

“Fruit is literally not going to get harvested, because there is no one cutting the fruit," Doug Maragas told the senator. "That's a big deal. All that money and all that time goes into growing that fruit, and you can’t get it off the vine.”

 The average rent for an apartment exceeds $1,600 a month in Central Oregon, and the median new housing cost in Bend is nearly $900,000.

Wyden heard the concerns about housing and said he hopes he and other government officials can take steps in the right direction to combat the issue.

“I'm approaching this on two fronts," the senator said. "One, we've got to increase supply. Moderate-income housing has been a bigger challenge.  You've got to find something you can use today. Some people have suggested to me some vouchers, for example, for those workers, but it still doesn’t deal with the shortage of actual housing being available.”

 Wyden said he understands the value in local food and beverages in Oregon and he wants to see these businesses succeed and not be handicapped by such factors beyond their control

“Oregonians, we do a lot of things well, but one of the things we do best is grow things," he said. "We've got to grow them, we've got to add value to them, and we've got to ship them all over the world.”

The roundtable helped Wyden understand what issues small businesses have so he can prepare a model for new legislation.

“Citizens want government to find smarter ways to drive down costs and make their small business, for example, more competitive," he said. And that's what I heard today.”

 In early December, Wyden and the Oregon Business Council plan a summit to talk about the financial needs of agriculture and small businesses.