Panelists discuss affordable housing in Bend

Published 12:00 am Thursday, February 5, 2015

Some suggestions for creating housing for Bend’s working class have been at hand since September, the chairman of the Bend Affordable Housing Advisory Committee told a packed town hall Tuesday.

The committee sent recommendations in the fall to the Bend City Council, said Chairman Andy High. They included a proposed break on system development charges, or SDCs, along with changes to city code that would allow higher concentrations of affordable homes and construction of cottage clusters.

High, also vice president of the Central Oregon Builders Association, was part of a four-person panel assembled by the Bend Chamber of Commerce to discuss affordable housing at the Deschutes Brewery & Public House on NW Bond Street.

“You asked for results,” High said, wrapping up a two-hour discussion. “We got it to you in September. It’s been five months.”

SDCs imposed by the city and the Bend Park & Recreation District to pay for the new roads, sewer-system upgrades and parks required by new development add hundreds of thousands of dollars to construction costs and increase home prices, builders say.

“The single most important thing the city can do” is reduce SDCs for affordable housing, said Tom Kemper, executive director of Housing Works and a panel member. Housing Works is the public housing authority for Central Oregon. Kemper said the need for affordable housing and more rental property in Bend is at a crisis stage.

Bend City Councilor Victor Chudowsky said, from the audience, a recent presentation by city officials to park district representatives on the SDC recommendation went over “like a lead balloon.” Without park district cooperation, any effort to reduce SDCs may founder, he said.

Lindsey Lombard, park district finance director, in the audience Tuesday, said only a subcommittee of the park board heard the presentation. The full board will meet with members of the affordable housing committee Feb. 17 to hear a formal proposal, she said Wednesday.

Kerri Standerwick, a panelist, committee member and real estate broker, said, to applause, that Bend residents must at least educate themselves on the options for affordable housing before they oppose them. The idea of apartment complexes, cottages or higher-density housing often makes sense to people, she said, when they’re proposed for someone else’s neighborhood.

— Reporter: 541-617-7815, jditzler@bendbulletin.com

Editor’s note: This article has been corrected. The original version incorrectly attributed a quote. That quote was made by Victor Chudowsky. The Bulletin regrets the error.