Bend advisory committee forms scoring subgroup, hears nonprofit reports and approves CAPER and revised action-plan recommendation

The City of Bend Affordable Housing Advisory Committee on its August meeting agreed to form a small working subgroup to revise application questions and scoring criteria for affordable-housing funding, received progress reports from a dozen local housing and service providers on Community Development Block Grant (CDBG), commercial and industrial construction tax (CICT) and ARPA-funded projects, and unanimously approved the 2024 Consolidated Annual Performance and Evaluation Report (CAPER) and a recommended amendment to the 2024 CDBG annual action plan for City Council consideration.

The committee decided that a subgroup of three to four AHEC members will meet outside regular meetings to take a “deeper dive” into application wording and scoring, then return recommendations to the full committee for adoption. "For the subgroup to be efficient and successful, we'd like to see 3 to 4 AHEC members volunteer," said Melissa Kamana, the city’s affordable housing coordinator, who proposed the group and described it as three or four meetings that would craft suggested changes to application questions and scoring criteria.

Why it matters: committee members said detailed, practical changes to application forms and scoring would reduce repetitive discussion at full AHEC meetings and make future funding rounds faster. Members also flagged that available city funding streams are constrained right now and that staff expect most near-term funding activity to focus on CDBG and a planned fall recruitment of new committee members.

Nonprofit and developer updates

Multiple recipients of city housing and shelter funding gave status updates. Highlights included: - Bethlehem Inn: John Baker, development director, said CDBG-funded case management positions are associated with measurable self-sufficiency gains among participants; 59% of clients reported an increase on a self-sufficiency measure, and most clients who improved were those enrolled with a case manager. Baker said about 50% of shelter guests opt into case management. - Bend United Methodist Church / Open Door Ministries: Pat Luce said a $5,000 HUD grant purchased 48 sleeping bags and 25 tents that the church distributed to people living outdoors, noting that paperwork requirements limited the church’s ability to use funds for distributed consumables. - Bend-Redmond Habitat for Humanity: Scott Nordquist reported a previously awarded $450,000 in CDBG funds for down-payment assistance that will support nine permanently affordable homeownership units (five 4-bedroom units and four 1-bedroom units), with many units targeted at about 50% area median income (AMI). Nordquist said the development’s 1-bedroom units have average mortgage amounts near $139,000 and that CDBG made up about 11% of the project's funding stack. - Hiatus Homes / Middle-income pilot and Penn Apartments: Sean McKeever and Jesse Russell described a middle-income pilot (a $75,000 award for a Wilson Avenue project) and an expanded Penn Apartments project in which city grant funding enabled a redesign that added 18 deed-restricted middle-income units to a multi-story micro-apartment building. Russell said entitlement and construction financing remain contingent on raising additional equity after recent interest-rate-driven increases in required equity. - Cleveland Commons / Housing Works: staff reported a $218,000 CICT/ARPA award supporting services; the site opened in February 2025 and reached capacity (33 clients) by May 2025 for permanent supportive housing. - NeighborImpact: Andrew Spreadborough and John Cox described a City of Bend grant of $200,000 to a middle-income down-payment assistance pilot. NeighborImpact has funded two loans (about $50,000 and $40,000) and has two more in process; spreads and high market prices have constrained the pipeline, so staff are working with lenders and realtors to identify eligible sales. - JBARJ Services (LOFT), Volunteers in Medicine (BIM Cascades), Thrive Central Oregon and others described program-level outcomes funded in part by CDBG, CICT or ARPA funds; examples included: 59% self-sufficiency increase among Bethlehem Inn clients working with case managers, 503 low-income medical patients served by Volunteers in Medicine (Tri-County region) and more than 3,000 appointments provided by Thrive Central Oregon to Bend residents during the grant period.

Temporary Safe Stay Area and safe-parking expansion

City staff said the temporary safe stay area (TSSA), a permitted camping area jointly managed with Deschutes County, has grown more quickly than expected and had about 219 residents as of the prior Friday. Staff warned that the TSSA is funded and planned to operate through Dec. 31, 2026 (ARPA funding timeline) and that the city and partners are preparing additional safe-parking pods and vehicle sites; Central Oregon Villages and Mountain View Community Development were reported to be bringing multiple safe-parking pods and sites online in the coming weeks.

Property-tax-exemption outreach and next steps

Staff also briefed the committee on two pending property tax-exemption applications for fully deed-restricted affordable rental developments that require approval from multiple taxing districts (city, county, school district, parks, etc.) before the city can grant the exemption. Carrie Bell, an affordable-housing staff member, invited committee members to provide individual written comment or appear before taxing boards (Deschutes County, Bend Parks & Recreation, the school district and ultimately City Council) to explain how exemptions can support workforce and family housing in Bend.

Votes at a glance

- Motion to approve the July meeting minutes as amended (to correct a loan-forgiveness item): approved (mover not specified; second recorded). The minutes were amended to reflect that Housing Works loans would follow standard city loan terms and were not both forgivable. - Motion to approve the 2024 CAPER (Consolidated Annual Performance and Evaluation Report): moved by Ian Perez, seconded by Allison Hallamard; motion passed by unanimous show of hands. - Motion to recommend City Council approval of the amended 2024 CDBG annual action plan (to allocate program income to a joint United Housing Partners/Latino Community Association rental project): moved (mover not specified), seconded by Heather (committee member); unanimous recommendation recorded. Staff said the amendment increases a previously stated available amount from $200,000 to $275,000 after final accounting of loan repayments and program income.

What the committee directed staff to do

Staff were directed to stand up the small scoring-subgroup, schedule meetings and return proposed language changes to the full committee. Staff also will proceed with the public-notice and City Council submittal process for the amended 2024 action plan and to coordinate presentation dates and written-comment opportunities with taxing districts for the two forthcoming property tax-exemption applications.

Context and next steps

Committee members said they expect a fall recruitment for new AHEC members and that some subgroup work could wait until after onboarding new members; staff and several volunteers said they would proceed sooner so revisions are ready for future funding cycles. The committee canceled the September meeting; staff said October will include shelter-program accomplishment briefings and further updates on safe parking and TSSA capacity.

Ending

City staff thanked committee members and the many nonprofit presenters for their reports; committee members agreed to the subgroup plan and to provide public-comment support for upcoming tax-exemption hearings where available. The committee's recommendations on the CAPER and action-plan amendment now move to City Council for final action.