Priced out. In Bend, people know that feeling all too well.

The median sale price of a home may have dipped lately but it is still about $650,000.

Rent for a two-bedroom apartment can run $1,800 and more, easily.

Good luck finding one. Good luck finding one at that price.

The problems are in housing production, regulation, financing, workforce and more.

No single solution is going to fix it. The solution will be silver buckshot not a silver bullet, says Nate Wildfire, CEO of the Missing Middle Housing Fund.

But because of the work of Kôr Community Land Trust, the Bend Chamber and many others there is a program in Bend that could be one of those pellets of silver buckshot.

Kôr has already built high-quality housing with the goal of net-zero energy use and affordability. And it has partnered with the Bend Chamber to demonstrate a model for building workforce housing that could be scaled up beyond an initial four, single-family homes. And then, we hope, 40 more. And then repeat.

We sure hope it will scale up.

Right now Kôr is building for people who make up to 80% of area median income. In 2022, that was $57,550 for two people. A family of four bumps it up to $71,000.

Why those relatively low limits? It has to do with financing and the limits set by the federal government.

Kôr actually loses on average $250,000 a unit when it builds homes up to 120% of area median income, rather than up to 80% of area median income, said Jackie Keogh, executive director of the Kôr Community Land Trust, at a Bend Chamber event Thursday night.

Did you catch that Sens. Jeff Merkley and Ron Wyden or Reps. Lori Chavez-DeRemer and Cliff Bentz? Could you do something about it?

There are more specific requirements. You can check out them out here, tinyurl.com/Korandchamber. There are requirements for employers to agree to pitch in. And there are protections in place to ensure people who buy the homes can earn money off them but Kôr can keep them in a pipeline of affordability.

If you are an employee, if you are an employer, you can find more information about what Kôr is doing at Korlandtrust.org. Check it out and apply.

Congratulations Kôr and the Bend Chamber. You have begun something that could be one answer to Bend’s housing challenge.

Scale it up.