Grant approved for low-income apartments

During last week's Sisters City Council meeting, Tom Kemper, executive director of HousingWorks, announced he had received word that they will be awarded the LIFT funds that were applied for in October in order to build an affordable 48-unit townhouse project in Sisters.

That means that there is some relief in sight for the ongoing shortage of affordable rental housing in Sisters for local service employees and those making $12 an hour or less.

The Land Innovation and Fast Track Housing Program came out of the 2015 Oregon legislature when $40 million of general obligation XI-Q bonds were committed to fund the program. The objective of the program is to build new affordable housing for low-income households, especially for families in rural communities with less than 25,000 residents, and communities of color.

In September, the Sisters City Council voted to approve committing $300,000 to the project, the amount still needed after all other funding sources were secured. Council's number-one goal for 2016 has been to secure affordable housing in Sisters and this project will go toward meeting that goal. Sisters currently has only 33 affordable rental units at Tamarack Village, which consistently has a year-long waiting list.

Kemper estimates the entire project will cost $5.5 million. The LIFT fund money will provide about $38,000 per unit. He said many different funding sources are essential in order to build the new project because it costs just as much to build affordable housing as it does to build market-rate apartments, and the costs aren't offset enough when the rents need to be affordable for people who make 60 percent of the adjusted gross income in Deschutes County.

The official announcement for the LIFT funds will be made January 6, 2017. Shortly thereafter Council will host an open house for the public to see and hear about the proposed townhouse development, which will be built on currently vacant land behind the shopping center where Ray's Food Place is located, at the west end of Sisters.