Support affordable housing options in Bend!

Bend Planning Commission and City Council

In 2019, Oregon passed a law to re-legalize certain types of more affordable housing throughout our cities: 2, 3 and 4-plexes, and cottage clusters. These are the kinds of less expensive homes that we desperately need in the midst of a rapidly worsening housing crisis.

But wealthy homeowners here in Bend are fighting to water it down, delay it, and stop homes from being built!

This bill had bipartisan support, including votes in favor from Republicans Cheri Helt, our state representative in Bend at the time, and Tim Knopp, our state Senator. It was signed into law by Governor Kate Brown that summer, two years ago.

After the bill was signed into law, Bend put together a “stakeholder group” representing various interests to hammer out the implementation for our city. The results are a compromise between different points of view, and one worth moving forward with, rather than drawing everything out endlessly with “public comments” from people unfamiliar with the details of the new law and what it requires the city of Bend to do.

There was plenty of time to comment on the legislation - our YIMBY group met with Rep. Helt at the beginning of 2019! Bend’s stakeholder group has been working for months, and there has been ample opportunity to comment or discuss what they’ve been drafting.

Every day we delay making it possible to add a diversity of homes is a day closer to pushing more people out of Bend, away from friends and family. Please consider:

  1. Write Bend’s City Council: councilall@bendoregon.gov - ask them to implement the HB 2001 code changes without delay.

  2. Sign this petition.

  3. Share with your friends!

Petition by
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Bend, Oregon
Sponsored by
Yimby-b_w
Bend, OR

To: Bend Planning Commission and City Council
From: [Your Name]

Dear Planning Commissioners and City Councilors,

As you must be aware, Bend is in the midst of a worsening housing crisis, with fewer and fewer options for working families.

Governor Kate Brown signed HB 2001 into law nearly two years ago, re-legalizing a diversity of housing options. It had bipartisan support from Representative Helt and Senator Knopp, locally. There was plenty of time to talk to our representatives about the bill, as many of us did, in support.

Bend has had a stakeholder committee hammering out an implementation of HB 2001 for our city for months, with ample opportunity for public input for those who cared, and input from a variety of interested parties.

It's time to implement HB 2001 without delay, in order to facilitate the production of desperately needed homes. People are being pushed out of town, away from friends and family every day. These rule changes won't fix all our housing woes overnight, but further delay is unconscionable.