A coalition of 38 Central Oregon builders, architects, employers and civic, economic-development and nonprofit groups is working synergistically to address the need for affordable housing in Central Oregon Partners for Affordable Housing This is a nonprofit created by members of the Central Oregon Builders Association in 2010 to help provide safe, affordable housing while also stimulating development, preservation and revitalization efforts across Central Oregon.
Today, the coalition includes interested and expert parties beyond the building industry to help increase affordable-housing options, both rentals and purchased homes, for Central Oregonians. It includes members from a variety of spaces, including the Bend Chamber of Commerce , the Cascades East Association of Realtors, Habitat for Humanity , Oregon Nurses Association and the student government at OSU-Cascades.
Part of its efforts include helping educate the public and policymakers about the local housing situation and ways in which more affordable housing can be made available. Partners for Affordable Housing will host a future forums for gubernatorial candidates, Bend mayor and city council candidates and Redmond city council candidates. focused on the topic of affordable housing and the high cost of available housing.
Partners for Affordable Housing is doing vital work, says Eliza Wilson, 38, a Bend native and executive director of RootedHomes, a Central Oregon community land trust founded in 2014, which is also a part of Partners for Affordable Housing.
“I feel that the coalition’s goal is to bring folks together to collaborate really collectively to make a difference in Central Oregon and in Deschutes County around building affordable housing and making affordable housing more accessible for the folks who live here,” Wilson said. “A lot of people end up moving out of the area because they just don’t have that next step of housing available to them. I think that’s why this coalition is so important.
“I think one thing that the public doesn’t understand is that when we say affordable, we mean (for) the workforce. We mean nurses. We mean your mechanic. That’s who affordable housing is for, and then there’s low-income housing that is absolutely needed, too,” she added. “It’s a Central Oregon problem, not just in Bend. I think Bend has more resources to show what the issue is, but we know there’s this same issue in Madras, where it’s difficult for teachers to find affordable housing. It’s the same thing with people who work in the medical system there. It’s an issue in Central Oregon as a whole. This isn’t an opinion. It’s a fact. Central Oregon is one of the top 10 least affordable places to live in the country.”
Wilson explained that Central Oregon has historically been “under invested in” with respect to state and federal monies targeted toward building affordable housing. “We are way behind in the development that was needed 10, 15 years ago, and Bend, specifically, is building more housing than anywhere in the state right now because we’re all aware of this issue,” she says.
David Welton, 50, is a software engineer by profession. However, his “passion project” is working with the volunteer-driven Central Oregon YIMBY (Yes In My Back Yard) organization that works toward ensuring there are homes of “all shapes and sizes” for Central Oregonians, be it houses, condominiums, apartments, multiplexes, micro housing or cottage clusters. Central Oregon YIMBY is part of the Partners in Affordable Housing “big tent coalition,” he explains, where there are various “ideas and approaches about the highest priorities,” and it’s an integral group to help address the need for housing for everyone.
“My wife and I moved to town 11 years ago now, and it was difficult to find a rental, and I was kind of thinking, you know, ‘Hey, if I’m a software guy and this is a struggle, what’s it like for people that are actually important to the community, like nurses and teachers and firefighters, police-service workers,’” Welton said. “I got to thinking about that and just realized that if we didn’t change course here, we were going to lose a lot of people that are vital to this community. I think everyone who’s lived here long enough has seen friends, family, and colleagues leave for places that are more affordable, and that’s a loss to all of us.”
As a frame of reference, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development annually determines the area median income and median family income for counties and multicounty metropolitan areas across the country. For 2026, HUD calculated that the Bend-Redmond MFI is $120,200. In 2025, the AMI for Central Oregon ranged from $77,400 to $114,300. Meanwhile, according to Realtor.com, $656,000 is the median sales price as of May 2026 for homes sold in Deschutes County, while the median rent is $2,025 per month.
This article appears in the Source June 4, 2026.
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