Eight years after Redmond signed up for a state experiment, the first homes are finally going up.
City leaders, developers and builders gathered Sept. 22 at Northpoint Vista, a 40-acre mixed-income neighborhood in northeast Redmond, to celebrate the start of homebuilding. Nonprofit developers RootedHomes and Northwest Community Housing Foundation broke ground this summer on 30 homes that will be permanently affordable through a community land trust, The Source Weekly reported. CS Construction is building them.
"We have literally spent eight years bringing this project out of the ground," Redmond City Councilor Cat Zwicker said at the celebration.
When it's done, Northpoint Vista is planned to have 445 homes mixing market-rate, workforce and affordable housing, according to KTVZ.
A test of the growth boundary
Redmond was picked in 2019 for Oregon's Affordable Housing Pilot Program, a legislative test of whether loosening the state's strict urban growth boundary rules could get affordable housing built faster. Under the program, the city could bring land into its boundary without the usual lengthy process, as long as at least 30% of the homes are affordable to households earning no more than 80% of the area median income. That's about $96,000 for a family of four in the Bend-Redmond area, according to The Source.
Deschutes County donated the land. The state put in $8.5 million in grants for infrastructure.
Even with a shortcut on the boundary, getting the land ready took years.
"One of the lessons we learned is, when the property is outside city limits, there's no infrastructure," said Linda Cline, the city's housing program analyst. "It ended up being a very big project."
The City of Redmond hired Edlen & Co. and deChase Miksis as the master development team to handle site and infrastructure design, entitlements and infrastructure management, KTVZ reported. Taylor Northwest, DOWL and Redpoint Construction Management are helping with infrastructure and construction management.
Northpoint will bring 134 income-restricted homes, according to The Source. The rules were also loosened along the way. Originally, more of the affordable housing had to be built first, but as state money for affordable housing lagged, the state let market-rate homes move ahead. Now all of the affordable housing must start construction before the last 15% of the market-rate homes are finished, Cline said.
Who's building what
The first 30 homes are on three acres. RootedHomes says the homes are expected to sell for $278,000 for a two-bedroom, $309,000 for a three-bedroom and $340,000 for a four-bedroom. Under the land trust model, the nonprofits keep the land and sell the homes to income-qualified buyers, which keeps them affordable for the next buyer, too.
The work is moving fast. "Even just a few weeks ago, you didn't have this framing," said Emma Rose, marketing manager at CS Construction, pointing to the wood framing nearby. "This went up so fast."
Dylan Moore, CS Construction's project manager, told KTVZ the company is "proud to contribute our building expertise to a project that will have such a long-term community impact."
Next up, regional builders Pahlisch Homes and Cobalt plan to build the market-rate portions starting next year, Cline said. Housing Works will build apartments to round out the affordable portion.
"Northpoint is an example of what it will take to address the housing affordability crisis in Central Oregon: bringing many partners to the table, leveraging each organization's strengths and working collaboratively toward solutions that create lasting affordability and opportunity for our communities," RootedHomes executive director Eliza Wilson told KTVZ.
Not everyone loves the approach. Central Oregon has kept testing ways to bend growth boundary rules to spur affordable housing, and some land-use advocacy groups say cities should grow inward instead, according to The Source.
Why it matters for Contractors
Northpoint Vista is a multi-year job that's just getting started. CS Construction has the first 30 homes, and Pahlisch Homes and Cobalt are lined up for market-rate homes starting next year, so framing, roofing, siding, plumbing, electrical, HVAC, drywall and finish subs in Central Oregon should be talking to those builders now. Housing Works' apartments would add multifamily work later. With 445 homes planned across 40 acres, there's room for a lot of crews over several years. The affordability rules mean affordable homes have to keep pace with market-rate ones, so expect steady work on both sides rather than one big burst.