By STEELE HAUGEN
CENTRAL OREGON DAILY NEWS
A few years into a citywide project to increase housing opportunities, the city of Madras is seeing the fruits of their efforts.
“We have had a tremendous year with housing development,” said Nick Snead, Madras Community Development Director.
Snead credits the success to two things: a housing action plan passed in 2018 and creating a housing urban renewal district, dedicated to helping with the cost of construction.
“In that housing action plan, it calls for the city to help construct 35 new homes a year,” Snead said. “In 2020, we permitted 58 new dwellings.”
There are other developments still in the permitting process.
“I think we will continue to see demand for residents that are not able to afford homes in the Bend or Redmond markets,” Snead said.
Near the Madras Aquatic Center, 150 units are coming to the Yarrow subdivision.
Development broker Rick Allen said there are big reasons buyers are coming from Deschutes County.
“One, they can’t afford to live there,” Allen said. “They flat out can’t afford it. Secondly, they are cashing out in the boom market.”
Allen said the pandemic also plays a part with the increase in people working from home.
“Now people are saying, ‘Gosh, I can work 50… 100 miles from my job or hundreds of miles, where I couldn’t have done that before,” Allen said.
Allen said Madras is in a “housing sweet spot.”
“People are choosing to move here for various reasons,” he said. “It’s pricing, location, weather, views, quality and it’s just kind of coming together right now.”
Allen and Snead expect the boom to continue as long as Deschutes County prices remain high.
