Kôr Community Land Trust is now fully funded to bring its largest homeownership community to Bend’s westside later this year. Oregon Housing Community Services funded $7,360,000 through its Local Innovation and Fast Track program. The Simpson Community was only one of two projects in the state to receive full funding. Oregon Community Foundation also provided a mission-aligned loan of $1,000,000 that provides early capital to increase the speed at which the affordable housing can be completed. Additionally. Bend Municipal Planning Organization recently awarded Kôr Community Land Trust and Housing Works $589,370.16 to support the transportation infrastructure. The City of Bend and Deschutes County provided funding for the project earlier this year through its Affordable Housing Fee funds, Community Development Block Grant program, and ARPA program.
The Simpson Community, located at 19755 Simpson Ave, will transform 7.12 acres of County-owned land into 40 single-family homeownership units of two- and three-bedrooms. Working in partnership with Kôr Community Land Trust, Housing Works has plans to bring 59 rental units to the site. This is the first development in the state to propose affordable homeownership and rental developed jointly on a single site. Together, the development will serve households earning less than 80 percent AMI, which is $71,900 annual household income for a family of four in Deschutes County.
Housing Works and Kôr Community Land Trust’s innovative partnership model of developing rental and homeownership communities together has attracted national attention. This week, Enterprise Community Partners announced the partnership was selected as semi-finalists for their 2023 Housing Affordability Breakthrough Challenge. Led by Enterprise with the generous support of the Wells Fargo Foundation, Housing Works and Kôr Community Land Trust were selected from 429 national candidates to compete now against 42 semifinalists for $1M to expand throughout Central Oregon.
The two affordable housing developers have piloted this partnership with their Simpson community. The partnership offers a unique opportunity to develop affordable rental and homeownership, serving the broad housing needs of the community side by side. This means that families living in Housing Works’ affordable rentals would receive preference to purchase a Kôr resale in their neighborhood, in turn staying in their community, school district, and with established family supports, like daycares.
“Without this partnership, a resident living in a Housing Works rental whose income increases has to move out of their subsidized rental unit, displacing themselves further from their community in search of an affordable market-rate rental or homeownership opportunity,” explained Jackie Keogh, Executive Director of Kôr Community Land Trust. “Kôr’s partnership with Housing Works mitigates displacement from household’s upward mobility by investing in the continuum of affordable housing.”
