City of Bend Applies for PRO Housing Grant
The City of Bend is requesting $10,000,000 in Pathways to Removing Obstacles to Housing (PRO Housing) funding from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). The City’s proposal identifies and addresses barriers that have resulted in historic underproduction of affordable housing and widespread housing cost burden in Bend, Oregon (the Project). The City of Bend has a long history of attempting to remove barriers to construction of affordable housing with the limited tools we have. Bend’s exponential growth has necessitated bold solutions to address a lack of housing supply. Bend’s focus on allowing new housing types, affordability, and on engaging technical advisors to assist in the code development, has allowed significant steps forward to alleviate barriers in code and process within the City’s control. However, Bend’s continued ingenuity is hampered by a lack of funds available to pilot concepts and incentivize development to keep up with our growing population.
The City’s vision for the Project is three-fold; remove systemic barriers through planning within the city’s control, increase housing production through streamlined processes and incentives that are within the City’s control while still operating within Oregon’s land use system, and fund the construction of new units. The Project includes five activities to realize this vision:
Activity 1: Assessment of planning, programs, and policy that impact housing production and availability in Bend.
Activity 2: Develop a Housing Production Implementation Plan, with equity and accessibility at the forefront.
Activity 3: Increase housing production through the establishment of funding for land acquisition and construction.
Activity 4: Expand or establish various incentives and subsidies to support affordable housing development and homebuyer assistance.
Activity 5: Create processes to streamline and simplify housing production.
The Project is a collaborative effort of multiple affordable housing developers and services providers, governmental agencies, City of Bend departments, and community members for the six-year period of 2024 – 2029. Bend has committed partners in part due to our history in working to alleviate barriers and will use the funding in ways that will help us alleviate the housing undersupply.
The total project cost is $19,268,520. The City is requesting $10M from HUD, of which $2,077,980 is for planning, program administration, and planning costs, and $7,922,020 is to create a new fund for affordable housing development. The remaining amount of $9,268,520 will be funded by the City’s Affordable Housing Fee, annual CDBG grants, and other City sources.
The City of Bend, a HUD Entitlement since 2004, is committed to continued partnership with HUD to benefit low- to moderate-income persons through the production of affordable housing. The City of Bend greatly appreciates HUD’s consideration of this request for PRO Housing grant funding.
DRAFT – HUD PRO Housing Grant Application
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