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Redmond affordable housing developments stifled by budget cuts
- Homelessness: Real Stories, Real Solutions
- 58 minutes ago
- 8 min read
Local leaders say the projects were passed over during the last round of applications for state funding from Oregon Housing and Community Services, despite Central Oregon's ongoing growth and need
By DAVID DUDLEY
Two major affordable housing projects in Redmond remain stalled after Oregon Housing and Community Services passed them over for state funding, instead prioritizing developments along the I-5 corridor, including Portland.
The funding decisions come as Central Oregon continues to outpace the rest of the state in population growth while 1,900 affordable rentals in Portland sit vacant, according to a news report by The Oregonian.
Sen. Anthony Broadman represents Central Oregon, which he calls "the best part of Oregon. Deschutes County is a safe, welcoming community," he said. "More people want to live here each year, so we need to continue to build housing."
But the lack of affordable housing continues to drive a widening gap between wages and housing costs in Deschutes County, the second fastest growing county in Oregon.
Homes in Bend sell for close to $800,000, and nearly half of renters are cost-burdened. The market pushes people to seek more affordable homes in commuter communities like Redmond, which is also experiencing a shortage. Delays in building affordable housing are clogging the pipeline, as the number of homeless people in the county has nearly doubled in the past five years.
"It's basic economics, supply and demand," said Broadman. "When we close that gap, housing will become more affordable. Affordable housing is the linchpin of an equitable society."
Stunted growth
One of the stalled projects in Redmond is called Northpoint Vista, a 40-acre housing development that will offer about 447 new units — a mixture of affordable, workforce and market-rate housing — to those seeking to buy or rent a home in Redmond.
Northpoint Vista became possible with the passage of House Bill 2336, which was designed to encourage new affordable developments in the state. Bend and Redmond were selected in 2019 to develop pilot projects that offer affordable housing outside of their respective Urban Growth Boundaries (UGB).
Those boundaries were developed and implemented in the 1970s to protect farmlands, ranches and forests from urban sprawl. Developing beyond those boundaries requires adding infrastructure like roads, electricity and water, as well as services like new fire stations and schools — all of which add to overall costs.
To meet state requirements, most of the affordable rental units must be built before developers can build a substantial amount of the workforce and market rate housing at Northpoint Vista.
Linda Cline, Housing Program Analyst at the City of Redmond, filed a petition with the Department of Land Conservation and Development (DLCD) to change the rules regarding the number of affordable units that must be completed at Northpoint Vista before construction on the market rate units can begin.
Cline said the project has been delayed since the early days of the pandemic.
"We're making good progress now," Cline said. "But we were counting on Local Innovation and Fast Track (LIFT) funding for rentals to avoid further delays."
However, Oregon Housing and Community Services (OHCS), Oregon's housing finance agency, had already allotted funding for the biennium to projects in Portland, Salem, and The Dalles. This means Redmond may have to wait until the next round of applications open in 2027.
The housing finance agency oversees the LIFT funding applications on a biennial basis. LIFT funds are meant to increase the supply of affordable housing in underserved communities, including those in which people of color are the majority, and rural areas in the state.
Oregon Housing and Community Services spokesperson Delia Hernández told FORJournalism that, when providing LIFT funds to new developments, the goal is to get new affordable rentals on market as quickly as possible.
"We emphasize development and construction readiness," Hernández said. "The funding process is based on a first-ready, first-reviewed for funding consideration basis."
Cline said that the petition filed with the Department of Land Conservation and Development may serve as a workaround to prevent further delays to Northpoint Vista. Utility and transportation infrastructure for the first half of the development is currently underway.
"We've got developers interested in buying the land, and building the market rate units," Cline said. "But they won't do so until they know when they can build."
If the Department of Land Conservation and Development denies the petition for a rule change, the Northpoint Vista project will be delayed further. If that happens, it could impact area businesses that are struggling to recruit new hires who are wary of high rental and home prices.
A neighborhood, minus the houses
Northpoint Vista isn't the only affordable development in Redmond that's been put on hold until LIFT funding comes through.
Ward Commons, an 18-home project by Habitat For Humanity, is situated at 4300 SW Quartz Ave. This project has been paused until the next round of LIFT funding for home ownership (LIFT HO) opens in 2027.
Whereas Northpoint Vista is still in the earliest phases of adding the infrastructure needed before homes may be built, Ward Commons looks like a neighborhood — minus the houses.
"There are sidewalks and driveway pads," said Carly Colgan, CEO of Bend-Redmond Habitat for Humanity. "Sewer and electric are complete. We just need the houses."
But this project was passed over by OHCS during the last round of applications for LIFT HO.
LIFT HO is structured similarly to LIFT Rental, but LIFT HO offers zero-interest loans with deferred payments, typically over 20-year terms. Homes built through LIFT HO must be affordable to households at or below 80% Actual Median Income (AMI).
The Ward Commons homes, which Habitat for Humanity described as energy-efficient, 2- and 3-bedroom single-family homes, were originally scheduled to hit the market in Fall 2026. Now, Colgan said, they may not be ready until 2032, which is blocking the path that leads from renting to owning a home.
"There are scores of mortgage-ready families in this area," Colgan said. "They want to be homeowners, but there simply aren't enough homes."
Since LIFT HO’s establishment in 2018, OHCS has funded the construction of 1,204 homes with $151,525,184 in LIFT, Hernández said.
"Around 41% of the homes that we’ve funded through LIFT HO are in Central Oregon," said Hernández. "This amounts to nearly $63 million in LIFT funding for the construction of 493 homes."
Why Portland over Redmond?
The recent allocation for LIFT-funded rentals raises a crucial question: Why would OHCS prioritize Portland developments when nearly 2,000 affordable units there sit vacant while fast-growing Redmond struggles to meet demand?
Portland is closing the gap between supply and demand, adding 5,504 affordable units toward the goal of 6,402, according to the most recent Housing Needs Analysis. But a growing number of those affordable units sit vacant due to an unexpected market shift.
Portland has added 26,483 market-rate apartments since 2018, exceeding the projected need of 17,106. This oversupply has brought rental prices down — so much so that market-rate units now cost about the same as subsidized apartments priced around 60% AMI, according to a report by NWV Group, a company that manages a portfolio of affordable rentals in Portland.
The result: potential tenants are choosing market-rate apartments over subsidized housing to avoid the complex application process and long waits often associated with affordable housing programs.
"It is concerning when affordable rental homes are vacant, because the need is extremely high," said Hernández. "This seems to be the trend not just in Portland, but in other metro areas across the nation due to rising costs and stagnant wages.”
Hernández pointed to the 2024 ‘Oregon Housing Needs Analysis Methodology,’ which indicated that Oregon needs to add nearly 500,000 housing units in the next 20 years to begin addressing state-wide supply issues.
"This means we cannot 'build our way out of the crisis' overnight," Hernández said. "Even with more money and better policies, it takes time to see results."
Meanwhile, Redmond has added only 145 affordable units toward the goal of 2,288, which means Redmond is significantly behind the curve. The Northpoint Vista development would add another 170 affordable units to the city's stock.
The cost per unit comparison is stark. The Broadway Corridor project in Portland — a collaborative effort between Home Forward and the Urban League that will add 229 new affordable units to the market — costs around $733,000 per unit.
All of the Broadway Corridor units are priced at 60% AMI — the same price at which Portland tenants are choosing market-rate rentals over subsidized housing.
Antler Meadows, another Redmond project, was denied LIFT funding during the last application cycle despite costing just $365,000 per unit.
Lynne McConnell, the executive director of Housing Works, Central Oregon's regional housing authority, told FORJournalism that her clients — which include low-wage workers, elderly and disabled people living on fixed incomes, some of whom are homeless — are anxious to apply for the affordable units once they're complete.
"We have massive demand and growing waitlists," McConnell said. "The Northpoint Vista development would help to relieve some of that pressure, which has been mounting for years. The only way for this project to move forward, without further delays, is through an exception to the rule."
McConnell added that OHCS officials have reached out to schedule a meeting to address these challenges.
Punished for success
Hernández said that the state has funded 31 rental housing projects, about 2,000 homes in Central Oregon, during the past decade.
"In 2024 and 2025, OHCS funded five projects, 333 rental homes in the region," said Hernández.
One of the reasons OHCS couldn't award funding to more developments during the last application period, Hernández said, is that her agency received less funding than it had requested during the 2025 legislative session.
"The need for affordable housing investment far exceeds available state or federal funding," Hernández said. "OHCS works to deliver resources quickly while remaining flexible with processes and funding to support projects that are ready to move forward."
Broadman acknowledged that OHCS has funded a significant number of developments in Central Oregon. Developers utilized LIFT funds to build the College View Apartments in west Bend, for instance.
A joint project between Housing Works and Rooted Homes, College View offers 59 units for families who earn 60% AMI, which was around $61,680 for a three-person household in 2025.
"We've built more affordable homes per capita than anywhere else in the state," Broadman said — which has led to an unexpected problem.
"It feels like we're being punished for being aggressive, for achieving some success," he added. "We're being passed over for funding, despite being the fastest growing area in the state. That makes no sense to me."
Gordon Howard, Community Services Manager at the DLCD, told FORJournalism that Redmond officials have given a strong justification in their application to ease the rules on the number of affordable units that must be completed before the workforce and market rate housing may be built.
"But the committee will still need to weigh the pros and cons before arriving at a decision," said Howard. "We know that housing is a big issue in Central Oregon."
The DLCD will review the request during a meeting on Feb. 26 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Homelessness: Real Stories, Real Solutions (realstoriesrealsolutions.org) is a journalism lab funded by Central Oregon Health Council under FORJournalism (forjournalism.org), an Oregon nonprofit dedicated to supporting journalism statewide. Sign up for weekly newsletters to receive updates.
