Housing report spurs city council

Housing activists are asking the Sisters City Council to address affordable housing needs in Sisters in the wake of a report which purports to show that Sisters' housing is less affordable than in the rest of Central Oregon.

City Planner Neil Thompson attended the affordable housing conference held in Redmond at which the report was released. He told the council, "Frankly, I was pretty floored by what was said (about Sisters housing)."

Thompson was alluding to material collected in the several-hundred page study of regional housing prepared for the Central Oregon Regional Housing Authority.

The report divides Sisters into two parts: the city and the surrounding unincorporated area, which corresponds with the Sisters School District. For further comparison, it also lists statistics for the three-county region.

The study shows Sisters' town residents now pay by far the lowest housing costs in the three-county region: $539/month vs. $763 for the region. Yet, based on a comparison of income with rent, the report claims the city is the least affordable of all regional communities.

City household incomes average considerably less than the regional average: $34,500 compared to $54,000.

Currently, according to the study, the Sisters area maintains the greatest income disparity in the region. The annual Sisters city household average income of $34,500 is less than half of the unincorporated household average of $75,500. Taken together, however, the average income of Sisters area households is almost identical to that of the three-county region.

The report concludes that, in the most important index of affordability, more than a third of the 425 city households pay over 30 percent of their incomes in rent.

The report indicates that 50 percent of city residents are renters (the region's highest rate), while less than 10 percent of unincorporated residents rent.

That, said Sharlene Weed, local Habitat for Humanity director, "really hit home."

Weed acknowledged that a significant number of low-income city residents, paying the lowest regional rents, means there may not an immediate housing crisis.

However, she said, "With all the planned new housing, which will be more expensive, lots of people in the future will not be able to live here."

The lowering of lot sizes, the expected jump in property value as the sewer system comes on line, the replacement of older mobile homes with more profitable duplexes, and a proposal which would allow quadruplexes should increase available housing-- but it may come at the cost of higher rental rates.

Weed asked that the council "take time to review the report and come up with ways to address the problems."

She charged the five members of the council to "come together with housing people and get on a task force to get something going for affordable housing in Sisters."

"The issue of affordability is on the front burner," Mayor Steve Wilson responded.

Wilson pledged that at an upcoming meeting the city council and the Sisters Area Affordable Housing Solutions (SASS) committee would "set benchmarks for local solutions."

City Administrator Barbara Warren, speaking later, was not completely swayed by the report.

"It is my understanding that this report (the city part) was based on only 40 returned questionnaires," she said. "But I know there are people in low-paying, seasonal tourist economy jobs...and that creates housing problems (for them) on how to live through the winter.

"I haven't put a lot of effort into the affordable housing issue," she concluded.

The Central Oregon Housing Needs Assessment 2000 was prepared by Rees Consulting to be integrated into the Comprehensive Plan of the Central Oregon Intergovernmental Council. Funds for the comprehensive study were provided by the Northwest Area Foundation.