Affordable Housing is Hard to Find in Bend This past year 300 families from the Bend area inquired about our Habitat Housing program. This represents an increase of 81% in inquiries over last year! What a clear picture of the rise in need for affordable housing in Central Oregon. There aren’t many strangers to this reality in our community. There is housing crisis for local families earning between 30% – 100% of the average median income (AMI). In Deschutes County this means that a family of 4 making $48,000 per year (75%AMI) will be able to afford a loan for close to $342,000. But the average selling price for a 3 bedroom home is now at $389,000 – and market inventory on this median priced homes is close to nothing. In order to provide a buying option for families in this range, Habitat Family Services Department is now hosting 4 Information Sessions a year, followed by Housing Counseling one-on-one sessions with each client. This is a new model that aims to increase outreach in the community, quadrupling the opportunity for families to begin their journey towards becoming homeowners. We have had 98 families attend Housing Information Sessions this year and over 30 of those have started the process to become homeowners. Our next Housing Information Session is scheduled for November 2nd. In the next 6 months we expect close to 150 new inquiries, a third of those will actually attend an information session. We have learned that the most efficient marketing tool we have is word of mouth, more than printed flyers or social media, we receive over 30% of our inquiries from friends or family referrals. Please help us spread the word in our community to find families who deserve a decent place to live. If you know of someone who loves to live in Bend, chose this wonderful area as their place to raise their family but is renting rather than owning their own home and makes between $1,800 and $4,900 per month- send them our way! Here is the link to get them started: Start Here[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]]]>