According to the Bend Bulletin, a new study indicates that nearly 17,500 people will be moving to Redmond, Oregon by 2039 and the city is going to need 7000 new homes. The Redmond City Council is looking at possible rezoning, annexations and adjustments to the urban growth boundary to prepare for the inbound migration. The study was written in June by Portland-based consulting firm ECONorthwest and also calls for a variety of housing types including townhomes, condominiums, and duplexes.
“Redmond would still look like Redmond (in 2039), but with a little more diversity of housing types,” said Beth Goodman, project manager from ECONorthwest. Only 60% of those new units will be single-family, detached homes. As recently as 2017, 73% of housing units in Redmond were single-family, detached houses, according to ECONorthwest’s analysis.
The analysis says a variety of housing options will help keep Redmond affordable for lower- and middle-income households. About 42% of Redmond households spend more than 30% of their income on housing, according to ECONorthwest.
Furthermore, the firm said, some aging baby boomers may prefer smaller, easier-to-maintain and more affordable homes as they retire. By 2040, people aged 60 and older will make up nearly a third of Redmond’s population, according to the analysis. And not all of this higher-density housing will be for low-income families. Goodman said middle-class households would also benefit.
“That middle income housing is at least as important, in terms of being missing, as low-income housing,” Goodman said. Not only does Redmond need to rezone more land to accommodate high-density housing, but it also doesn’t have enough land zoned for “limited residential” housing, or homes with large lots between 8,000 and 20,000 square feet of land, Goodman said.
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