The City of Sisters got a lot of attention when it became one of the first cities in Oregon to adopt a set of codes around home hardening and defensible space. Now, the City of Bend is set to vote on doing something very similar. The codes may raise the price of new homes slightly — perhaps 2 to 3%, by some estimates — to account for the difference in materials needed to better protect home. That’s something that not everyone, including some builders, will be happy about. Between land, materials and labor, homes already cost a lot to build in this region and around the state, and we’re still woefully behind on the housing goals set out by the governor.
Add in the threat of a bad fire season due to the worst snowpack levels in decades, and you can see just how complicated it can be to address safety issues and rising home insurance rates, while at the same time ensuring that everyone has a place to call home.
On the one hand, new home hardening codes could help keep homes from being destroyed in a massive wildfire. On the other hand, the increased costs of building those homes may mean that fewer in total get built. At a meeting discussing the issue in February, most Bend city councilors were in favor of acting fast to implement new home-hardening codes. Just one councilor spoke of slowing the roll to let builders get their heads around the advent of yet another set of regulations to follow. With a Council in virtual lockstep, as they are now, it’s easier to pass such things quickly. But those quick decisions can also make elected officials a target for those who say they’re making moves that stymie housing in a town that very much needs more of it.
The thing is, the issue might not have been quite as challenging for officials at the local level, had the state not backed off on a process that would have put in place home-hardening and defensible-space codes statewide. Remember the backlash about the state’s wildfire risk maps? That process, of classifying parts of the state that were most at risk of wildfire, was part of a broader effort to understand where things like home-hardening codes were most needed. When Oregonians railed against that map and ultimately saw it repealed, they essentially shut down the process that could have put state, rather than local, mandates in place.
And now, what we have are some cities that will take action around wildfire risk, and, perhaps, some cities that won’t, due to worry over raising the cost of building homes. If you live in a home that withstands the next fire due to increased home-hardening efforts, you’re going to be quite happy those were in place. Then again, if you don’t have a home at all, then those same regulations are about as valuable as a pile of ash.
This article appears in the Source March 19, 2026.
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