The City of Bend is on track to create new housing options to address the need for middle- income housing. The City’s goal is to promote more affordable home ownership and rental opportunities with a diversity of housing types and sizes. According to a 2016 Bend Housing Needs Analysis, the City anticipates the population to grow by 38,500 people between 2008 and 2028, which would require nearly 16,700 new housing units.
On June 6, city councilors held a public hearing and first reading to amend the Bend Development Code, which will create three significant changes. It would go to a second vote before taking effect.
One would allow a second accessory unit or ADU on a property as a rental unit. The first ADU on a property can be 800 square feet. A second ADU would be limited to 500 square feet, to encourage single-room units. Three city councilors wanted to waive the 500-square-foot requirement and allow two 800 square foot units, but four councilors voted to maintain the two different sizes. An ADU can be attached or detached from the main house. A detached ADU must be a minimum of 6 feet apart from other dwelling units on the lot. That does not apply to units legally constructed before April 2016.
The second change being proposed to the building code would allow homes to have a second kitchen, which can be anywhere in a home as long as access between the main livable space and the second kitchen is maintained. In other words, the home cannot be divided into apartments. City staff explained a second kitchen would accommodate inter-generational homes, live-in caretakers or workforce housing.
The third change would create a new category of homes called “rowhouses.” The detached single-family homes could be built and sold individually. These differ from townhomes, which developers finance and build as complete units. All other townhome standards would apply to rowhouses. Only one ADU per lot would be allowed with a rowhouse.
Work on amending the building codes started two years ago. In June 2023, the City held a workshop to identify barriers to housing production. Staff gathered input from developers, employers, home loan officers, realtors, building officials and others with an interest in addressing the need for middle-income housing. The request for a second ADU and second kitchen game from that workshop. In October 2023, a developer requested the ability to create rowhouses.
The City of Bend has been removing barriers for ADUs over the past several years. In 2018, it eliminated sidewalk requirements for ADUs. In 2019, it removed the requirement for one parking space per unit. In 2021, the city increased the size of a single ADU to 800 square feet.
No one spoke in opposition during the public hearing Wednesday. Three people spoke in support of the changes. The Council voted unanimously on the first reading, with Councilor Megan Norris recusing herself due to a potential conflict of interest with her employer, Hayden Homes. The second reading is scheduled for June 18.
This article appears in Source Weekly June 5, 2025.
MAKE LOCAL JOURNALISM HAPPEN
Republish our articles for free, online or in print, under a Creative Commons license.
All of this building is ruining Bend. Not everyone has the right to live wherever they want to live. Some areas are more expensive than others, and affordable housing should be limited to city workers and teachers.
More precisely, Rich………the City of Bend is ruining Bend. They are clueless and corrupt, taking money from developers without a care in the world about infrastructure, health care (which is literally falling apart in Bend), dental…….all these things communities need.
This is just another example. Why? These units aren’t going to be used as intended unless the article is missing an important variable. Will these simply be used for extended families and people who need affordable housing (who have jobs)……..or will it be used for profit by property owners to rent to the tourists? Think we all know the answer to this question. The City of Bend is ruining Bend.
We do not need more growth and we absolutely do not need more people treating a home as an ATM machine (rental).