Bend awards five Community Development Block Grants for its annual action plan to help address housing needs

BEND, Ore. (KTVZ) --   A half-million dollars in grant money is behind the city of Bend's latest push for affordable housing. The Bend City Council has approved this year's Community Development Block Grant annual action plan, totaling more than $500,000.

"The community should know that we understand the housing market is difficult and that the need is great," Mellissa Kamanya, the city of Bend's affordable housing coordinator, said Tuesday.

Five organizations helping low- and moderate-income-households were chosen.

Volunteers in Medicine Executive Director Kat Mastrangelo said, "This is really the only funding we get that helps support people who live right here in the city of Bend, who are low-income and uninsured."

This year's grant recipients included VIM, which will get $32,588. They'll use the funds to provide medical care to low-income and uninsured people in Bend.

Bend-Redmond Habitat for Humanity CEO Carly Colgan said, "This is an opportunity for us to reach a need that we don't typically get to serve, which is families that are larger, as well as smaller families and potentially older adults aging in place."

A total of $442,918 goes to Bend-Redmond Habitat for Humanity, which will be going towards its new affordable housing project, Daly Estates. It consists of nine one-bedroom and four-bedroom homes on the east side of Bend. 

The grant will be helping homebuyers with financial assistance. Other organizations receiving CDBG funds include Thrive Central Oregon, Bend Church and J Bar J Living Options for Teens. 

The CDBG money comes from the federal government through the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.  HUD has a formula to determine how much funding cities get, looking at the age of housing and its quality.

Kamanya said, "A lot of our homes are new. We don't receive a really large allocation of funding each year, but we receive right around the same amount."

"It is never enough for the need that we have," she said. However, we typically have sometimes two to three times in requests that we receive in applications."

Besides the large sum for Habitat for Humanity, the grants range from $5,000 to $30,000. You can learn more about the city's affordable housing program at bendoregon.gov/affordablehousing.