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About The nugget. (Sisters, Or.) 1994-current | View Entire Issue (July 15, 2020)
The Nugget Newspaper // July 15, 2020 // Partners in Real Estate 13 Hayden Homes offers affordable opportunities Affordability is at the core of Hayden Homes9 mission. Hayden Homes9 Regional Director Chris Davis notes that the goal of each community is to build at <the highest quality at the lowest possible cost= in order to serve underserved rural markets. Starting home prices are based on the area median income thresh- old in a community rather than being driven by market rate of the homes. In turn, Hayden Homes9 homes are virtually always <the most competitively priced homes in all of the communities we build in.= The commitment to afford- ability is especially apparent in Hayden Homes9 McKenzie Mead- ows Village project, which is now underway in Sisters. The 195-plus- unit development combines 116 single-family detached homes, 18 single-family attached/ town- homes, and 61-65 multi-family units plus 3.32 acres of open space, and recreational ameni- ties and supporting infrastruc- ture. Among the homes built in the three-phase development will be 10 homes dedicated to afford- able housing for families qualify- ing at the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) threshold of 80 percent or below of Adjusted Median Income. The homes are being made available through the First Story program, Hayden Homes9 non- profit charitable arm. <What we9re doing in Sisters is the largest, most impactful project the nonprofit has done,= said First Story Executive Director Claire Duncan. Three families have been selected for First Story homes in the initial phase of the project, which is expected to take three years to complete. <All three families are the first in their families to own their own home,= Duncan said. Two of the three families cur- rently live and work in Sisters. The nonprofit First Story reached out to the Sisters community to seek applicants and to help pro- spective homeowners prepare for the responsibilities and burdens of home ownership. First Story9s affordable loan program provides zero-down, zero-interest, 30-year loans to qualified individuals purchasing their first home. The First Story homes are triplex units 4 but they are only attached at the garage and do not share a living-space wall, giving them the feel of a sin- gle-family detached home. They photo provided are 1,058 square feet with three bedrooms and two bathrooms. They come with appliances, air conditioning, fencing and land- scaping in place. Since 1989, Hayden Homes has built over 17,000 homes in underserved, secondary markets throughout Oregon, Washington, and Idaho. Economies of scale help to keep land and materials costs down so that Hayden Homes can be affordable to working fami- lies and first-time homebuyers. Every time a Hayden Home is sold, 1/8 of one percent of the sale price goes to First Story. The funds collected are distrib- uted into the local community, where First Story makes chari- table grants in support of com- munity programs. For the sale of a new home, Hayden Homes pays the percentage. When that first buyer sells the home, they pay the same percentage and so on, each time the house sells. <Deschutes County is one of our largest recipients of this grant funding, so hundreds of organiza- tions have received grant funds,= Duncan noted. Hayden Homes and First Story have made con- siderable contributions to Sisters High School, the Sisters Kiwanis Food Bank, the veterans outreach programs, Central Oregon Council on Aging and many more projects and programs. Through their approach to building and the First Story pro- gram, Hayden Homes is offering an affordable opportunity to many families to call Sisters home.