Bend Looking to Encourage Middle-Market Housing

The city of Bend, Oregon has seen a spike in housing costs over the past few years, and is actively looking for solutions that would encourage the building of new units. The Affordable Housing Advisory Committee met in the city last week to discuss some the Bend 2030 Work Group proposals that they may include in their recommendations to the city. Among the proposals discussed were:

-Deferment of development fees or long-term loans for developers building homes for families that make less than 125% area median income
-Tiered system for development fees based on home size
-Measuring density by radius rather than lot-by-lot
-Allowing four-plexes to be built in single-family neighborhoods
-Altering the requirement for open space when a home is built near a park
-Raising allowable lot coverage for multifamily housing from 40% to 60%

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