State agency approves $40 million for North Bend affordable housing project

By LEXI RYAN/KCBY News

NORTH BEND — Approximately $40 million is headed to Coos County to create more affordable housing, making this the biggest investment in affordable housing in decades, according to officials behind the project.

On Oct. 4 approval was given from the Oregon Housing Stability Council for North Bend Family Housing to build 176 affordable homes for low-income residents.

The project is slated to begin sometime in 2025.

The new housing site is set to be located where Bangor Elementary School currently resides; that building is set be demolished to make way for the new units.

A portion of the funding for this project is coming from the state through two funds, the Local Innovation and Fast Track as well as Permanent Supportive Housing. Coos Health and Wellness is also contributing over $2 million in local funds to the project.

“What this project will do is it will be one of the first large scale affordable housing developments that we’ve had on the South Coast in over 40 years. We have had some different affordable housing developments but not of this scale, so, this will be the first large scale investment that we’ve seen in a number of decades down here to build up affordable housing,” said North Bend City/Coos-Curry Housing Authorities executive director Matthew Vordetstrasse.

The project will be done in two phases: phase 1 will be to build 105 units, while the second phase will be the additional 71 units.

Twenty of those initial units will be set aside for Coos Health and Wellness for permanent supportive housing units for those who have severe or persistent mental illness, according to Vordetstrasse.

This project is designed to address the urgent housing needs in Coos County by providing affordable apartments, with no market-rate units. The development will consist of four three-story buildings that offer a mix of 1-, 2-, and 3-bedroom apartments to accommodate families of varying sizes.

The site will include amenities such as a community room, resident services office, on-site management office, laundry facilities, and shared outdoor spaces including courtyards, landscaped areas, and pedestrian pathways. The site will also include surface parking, bike racks, play structures, and raised garden beds.

Once all the units are built, there will be an application process for potential residents of the affordable housing.

“As we get closer to occupancy and being ready we’ll create an application process that would be through our website or through our office that people would be able to come in and apply to and we’re probably about a year out from that application coming out to the community,” Vordestrasse said.

Those who apply must earn between 60 and 80 percent of the area’s median income.

“Everybody needs to have access to safe and affordable housing, and this is a resource that will begin moving us in that direction to where that resource is available to everybody,” Vorderstrasse said.