Low-income aid programs are active

Low-income housing programs in Sisters are in full swing.

Cyndy Cook, executive director of the Central Oregon Regional Housing Authority (COHRA), updated the Sisters City Council in a workshop Thursday, March 25, on three financial assistance efforts: low-income housing, a family self-sufficiency program, and a housing choice voucher program.

Cook said Tamarack Village Apartments on Larch Street -- the first housing in Sisters with income-based rent -- has all 33 of its units filled.

Tamarack Village opened in September with two- and three-bedroom units at prices from $300 up, set according to income and state standards. Cook said the apartment complex, which is funded through federal tax credits, has made an effort to target Sisters residents.

"The last 25 percent of the units took a while to lease up," Cook told the councilors. "But now there is only one person out of area. That's a promise we made to you guys to keep it local and serve the needs of the community. I think we've done that well."

The majority of the apartment's residents, 43 percent, earn between $16,000 and $22,000, according to COHRA demographics. Twenty-seven percent earn less than $16,000, 24 percent earn $21,000 to $27,000 and six percent earn $32,000 to $44,000.

The councilors said they have not heard any complaints about the apartment community. Cook said the problems have been minimal and relate to some residents not getting along with their neighbor.

"When you're taking a large group of people who don't know each other and they are thrown into a small block, it causes some anxiety," Cook said. "Sometimes they do not get along with their neighbors, so they move around, but there is not a lot of that."

The largest percent of residents at Tamarack Village, 37 percent, are under 10 years old, and 18 percent are between the ages of 21 to 30, according to the report. The most common occupation held among the residents, 29 percent, is in retail.

The number of residents in need of affordable housing in Sisters is significant and projected to increase, according to CORHA reports. Of the 397 households living in Sisters in 2000, approximately 100 or 24.9 percent lived in housing that was not affordable given their incomes. Of these households, the majority (93 percent) had annual incomes under $35,000.

In other business, Cook said that eight Sisters residents have received financial assistance from the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Section 8 housing choice voucher program, with an average monthly payment of $478 per household.

Two of the people receiving the voucher are elderly, two are disabled and six are families with children, Cook said. Six of the eight earn less than $16,260 per year.

To encourage financial aid recipients to become self sufficient, CORHA also offers a Family Self-Sufficiency Program.

The program, which is offered to Section 8 housing choice voucher recipients, enrolls the students in a program, which encourages them to earn a college degree and to take practical steps to increase their income, reduce debt, and own a home.

A standard FSS contract is five years, but the average CORHA FSS graduate completes the program in 29 months, according to a COHRA report.

Since December 1992, 82 families in Deschutes County have graduated from the program, according to the report.