Author: davidw

Show your support for affordable housing alternatives here in Bend with these signs.

You can order yours here. They’re being sold at cost.

YIMBY

[Edit: tax numbers are in for the new apartments]

We can argue at length about the right levels of taxes and services that we would all prefer to have in our city, but at the end of the day, you have to take in enough money to provide the level of services – roads, police, schools, and so on – that you would like to provide.

One way to accomplish that is by using the land in a financially productive way. Land that sits empty takes in relatively little in taxes. Land that has structures for people to live and work in is going to provide more revenue.

Every winter is different here in terms of big snow storms, but they are illustrative of how infill development that uses already urbanized land more intensely is a financial win. For instance, below is the satellite image of the land where some apartments YIMBYs advocated for were built.

The existing roads are already plowed when it snows. So all the extra tax revenue from this new housing can go to pay for other expenses in the city. The road department doesn’t have to plow one single extra bit of road!

The new apartments take in about $300,000 of tax revenue.

Let’s also consider some single family units towards the edge of town:

All told, these pay in around $44,000 in property taxes – far less than the apartments – and do require snow plowing on the road built to let people access their homes. They also require more roads to be paved, longer sewer pipes to reach all of them… more of everything, for only 16 homes. The apartments house a lot more people, utilizing a similar amount of land (slightly less, actually). And furthermore, the people living in them have the option walk or bike to a lot of local amenities that are close by, saving the roads some wear and tear, and keeping some pollution out of the atmosphere.

This is not to say we should all live in apartments, or not allow single family units or anything like that. But where there’s a market for apartments or condos in Bend, they’re a good investment that we all benefit from.

Occasionally when the topic of adding housing in Bend comes up, someone asks: “where will all the water come from for these extra people? We live in a desert!”.

It’s certainly good to keep an eye on our natural resources and avoid squandering them. However, it turns out that cities and housing consume less water than agriculture. A lot less.

And denser, more compact cities consume even less water, which makes sense if you think about it. Ten homes in a three story apartment or condo building are going to need a lot less water than 10 homes spread out on large lots with big lawns.

The chart is from a report that’s a few years out of date, but the point stands: there’s a lot of room to grow “Municipal and Industrial” – especially if we really started to discourage things like wasteful lawns.

Source: https://www.deschutesriver.org/what-we-are-doing/upper-deschutes-basin-study/

For an even more in-depth look at what water usage in the Deschutes River basin looks like, this report from Central Oregon Landwatch is an important read, that goes into some detail about how much water is wasted: https://www.centraloregonlandwatch.org/update/2021/5/5/drought-and-the-deschutes-looking-at-the-same-river-twice

Overcrowding and density have become hot topics in the era of COVID-19. The research shows that it’s “crowds”, rather than “density” that further the spread of the disease.

Many people understand that housing, like anything else, is a question of supply and demand. But there are some holdouts who think that it’s simply not possible for supply to catch up to demand.

I think some of this stems from how much they may like a place – Bend in this case. “It’s the best place in the world! It’s perfect!” – so why would anyone want to live anywhere else? And thus an unlimited supply of people wanting to live here.

There are a couple of problems with that line of reasoning:

First of all, Bend’s great, but not everyone likes the snow, or the smoke in the summer we sometimes get from fires.  Or the chilly spring and relatively cool nights all year long that make growing things difficult. And others would prefer a larger, less remote city with more amenities.  Perhaps other people feel Bend is already too big.  Some people love the ocean and want to live near it. Others want to be where there is more action in terms of high paying jobs. Being near a major research university is a draw for some.  I’ve even talked with athletes who take into consideration Bend’s relative flatness, as compared to a place like Boulder, Colorado, which has steep mountains right out of town: Flagstaff road for cycling or Mt Sanitas for hiking or running.

In other words, Bend’s certainly not perfect – as much as we may love it, it’s not for everyone.

Secondly, as further proof of this point, if you talk with people from other popular places who are convinced that it’s impossible for supply to catch up to demand, it seems that they’re all convinced that there is an unlimited number of people who want to move to their town, whether it’s

• San Francisco
• Seattle
• Portland
• Boulder, Colorado
• Austin
• Asheville, North Carolina
• Santa Barbara
• etc…

It cannot be true that everyone wants to live in all those places. People do have preferences for different places depending on size, climate, activities, jobs and so on.

If we allow supply to catch up to demand, people will sort themselves out, and no, not everyone will move to Bend, because there are a lot of other nice places.

Having been born and raised in Oregon, California has been a touchy subject for as long as I can remember; I’ve heard all the jokes. However, as YIMBYs, we welcome people from everywhere, no matter where they “decided” to be born.

There is no doubt that California’s housing crisis affects us here in Oregon, though. The average house price in San Francisco is over 1.3 million dollars – and there are other areas in the Bay Area that cost even more. Sure, there’s high demand to live there, but there has also been an abject failure to provide enough housing for all the jobs in the area, something that has ratcheted prices up, and up, and up, to the point where on a cost of living basis, poverty in California is the highest in the nation. Here’s a chart of housing production over the years in California. Even during the boom years it never hit highs from previous decades, despite more and more people wanting to live there to have access to jobs and other positive aspects of life in that state.

No wonder some people there can afford to sell out and move here because it’s “cheap”; and others, who have no hope of buying a home where they’re from, move to Oregon!

Oregon’s pretty nice, and I think people would move here anyway even if housing costs weren’t a factor. That’s great! I like living in a place where other people choose to live too.  It sure beats living someplace that’s slowly fading away because there are no reasons to live there anymore.

But it’d also be nice if everyone who wanted to could find a place – maybe not the largest, fanciest place, but someplace – to live in California if that’s where they want to live – for a job, to stay close to family, or just because it’s right for them.

At Bend YIMBY, we decided we’re not quite to the point where we can endorse candidates during the current election here in Bend… but it seems like a lot of people here know someone in California, and we’d sure like to encourage them to vote for the YIMBY’s there! Go check out these

• https://www.yimbyaction.org 
• https://cayimby.org/

As we fight to keep Bend a healthy, affordable city with housing options, we realize that it’s a fight that is going on in many cities and towns across the country, and we support those doing their part to fix larger cities throughout the broader west coast that influence our own housing market.

Bend – if you hadn’t noticed – is in the middle of a housing crisis!

Vacancy rates are really low: even if you have the money to rent a place, it can be difficult finding something that’s open.

And for a lot of people, it can be tough to find a place they can afford, either to rent, or as a first home to purchase. Even if you have a home already, there are good reasons to be concerned about this: could your kids afford to live here if they wanted? How about people like nurses, firefighters, police and teachers, to say nothing of all those who work in jobs that pay even less.

According to a local survey of people experiencing homelessness, economic factors are one of the top reasons people become homeless: the rent is too high for many.

Bend YIMBY is one of many YIMBY – “Yes In My Back Yard” – groups springing up around the country, in places that have housing problems. We are pro-housing, in order to keep prices under control.

What we need is more housing supply to match the demand.  But that doesn’t just mean lots of tract housing on the east side, with cul-de-sacs and arterial roads that no one wants to walk along.  It means more options throughout town. Apartments, townhouses, duplexes, triplexes, and yes, of course, single family homes too.

We used to build a wider variety of options than we do now.  For instance, the O’Kane building (1918) originally had ground floor retail, some office space, and living quarters upstairs.

Not far away are the Broadway apartments, also around 100 years old:

What we do:

• Advocate for specific developments that add to housing options within town – apartments, mixed use (commercial and housing built together), and other things that add more variety.
• Advocate for policies that have the potential to add housing, and to the variety of housing options available.
• Advocate for a broad mix of development styles, sizes and costs, and which include safe and convenient ways to get around to work, school or play.

If you’d like to join us, sign up for our Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/BendYIMBY or our announcement mailing list.

Housing in Bend is way more expensive than our median take home pay, which is one reason why the housing crisis is felt so acutely here.  Prices are starting to get high enough that businesses are having trouble attracting people.  Perhaps some of those businesses can afford to pay more, but not everything operates at high margins.

The StartupBend.com web site does a great job covering local entrepreneurs, startups and tech in town, all things that can contribute to higher paying, rewarding jobs in Bend, which, as economist Enrico Morretti points out in his book The New Geography of Jobs can have a lot of positive effects for the economy beyond the people hired and companies hiring them.  With the caveat that we need to do more to ensure that high paying jobs don’t simply drive up housing prices as has happened in places like Boulder, Colorado or the California Bay Area.

They were kind enough to add a guest post regarding housing and business: https://startupbend.com/articles/guest-post-how-the-yimby-movement-aims-to-tackle-affordable-housing-and-why-tech-startups-should-pay-attention/

 

On Monday, April 30th, we’re going to meet at McMenamin’s at 6PM, and as our guest this time we’ll have none other than the mayor of Bend, Casey Roats!

This is obviously a great occasion to come out and chat with the mayor and with other YIMBYs – or even if you’re just curious what we’re all about.

Bring a friend, come on down and grab a beer with us and learn about urbanism, Bend’s history, transportation, the housing crisis and how it all interacts.

We’ll be in the “Smoking Room” at McMenamins, although of course no actual smoking will take place!

If you use Facebook, there’s an “event” there – if you RSVP we’ll have an idea of how many people are coming: https://www.facebook.com/events/1525604614405475/

This video is one of the best, most succinct explanations of what YIMBY is all about

Thanks to the people at the Sightline Institute for making it!