THE SPOKESMAN • WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 2022 P3
Housing
Continued from P1
“Because of the scarcity
of state funding, affordable
housing developments are be-
coming more reliant on local
support,” said David Brandt,
executive director of Housing
Works.
“The city of Redmond has
long recognized the relation-
ship between affordable hous-
ing and the growth of new
businesses and has included
housing in its economic devel-
opment program.”
The City of Redmond pro-
vided more than $3.2 million
of the funding needed through
an Urban Renewal Loan, Com-
munity Development Block
Grant and system development
charge fee waiver. Without
the city’s support, this devel-
opment would not have been
Submitted photo
The development features one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments and is the first affordable housing devel-
opment in Central Oregon to include apartments for households earning up to 80% of the area median income.
possible.
Additional funding was
provided by Oregon Housing
Fluke
Continued from P1
“I didn’t know what was going to hap-
pen, and I ended up losing a good job,”
Fluke remembered. “Merchandising
was not important after that because of
COVID, and they wouldn’t travel and ev-
erything was shut down.”
Fluke had a lot of physical issues she
wanted to heal, so she took time away
from working for much of 2021 with the
help of expanded unemployment benefits.
When those expired in September,
she made a new plan, this time to take
her talents and abilities to Arizona with
a friend.
But once again, her plans changed
when the friend she planned to go with
“flipped a switch,” and the move was off.
mber, she made a new plan, this time
to take her talents and abilities to Ari-
zona with a friend.
But once again, her plans changed
when the friend she planned to go with
“flipped a switch,” and the move was off.
So, Fluke took to the road. She spent
days and nights “wrestling” with herself
at a rest area on U.S. Highway 97 over-
looking the Crooked River, trying to fig-
ure out how to keep trying. She wanted
to be a “giver,” but it felt like every door
she tested — jobs, family, friends —
closed.
Then, the cold came.
In early November, she drove to Red-
mond, reading about the warming shel-
ter online and making it her temporary
respite.
“I just know that I’m supposed to be
here, even if I don’t know where I’m go-
ing,” Fluke said. “As far as I’m concerned,
it’s better than I could do on my own
right now.”
Now, she goes to the shelter early each
night, offering to sweep or otherwise
help prepare for the two dozen guests
that sleep there each night.
Fluke wants to work — she did an-
other short spell at Home Depot, but
a prior meniscus injury she didn’t get
physical therapy for made it a challenge
to stand for hours at a time.
“My knee wasn’t ready for me to be
on my legs for four hours. So I switched
gears just to focus on getting healthy
and building up my legs so that I can do
something — what, I’m not sure,” Fluke
said. “I have goals of doing something,
but I go to therapy three days a week
right now, until I can feel like I can keep
up a job, especially because a lot of jobs
here are on your feet.”
Wanting to hold a job while being
homeless forced Fluke to overcome the
common misconception that those ex-
periencing homelessness don’t have a
desire to work. She’s also learned about
the invisible struggles many face and the
mental health services needed to over-
come them.
“When you’re working and you have
everything you need, you don’t realize
how much of this is people are fighting
their demons on a daily basis,” Fluke
said. “You can’t just give them a tent and
a blanket and say, ‘go there.’”
Reporter: 541-617-7814, zdemars@bendbulletin.com
and Community Services
and includes Low-Income
Housing Tax Credits, Oregon
Affordable Housing Tax Cred-
its, Oregon Multifamily En-
ergy Program, and loans from
Washington Federal and Hous-
ing Works.
Midtown Place is loaded
with efficiency measures in-
cluding extra insulation, high
performance windows, duct-
less mini-split heating and
cooling, LED lighting and
energy star rated appliances.
Midtown was designed with
an urban flare by Pinnacle Ar-
chitecture from Bend and con-
structed by Pacific Construc-
tion Company from Redmond,
the release said.
Housing Works, the proj-
ect developer, is the regional
housing authority for the three
Central Oregon counties and
has built or acquired over 1,200
affordable rental housing units
since its founding in 1977.
Housing Works is currently
developing a new affordable
rental community in Prineville
and soon will be starting a re-
habilitation project on a 96-
unit development in Bend.
Housing Works has existing
communities in every incor-
porated city in Central Oregon
except Culver and Metolius.
Midtown Place is the third
affordable housing develop-
ment in Redmond under-
taken by Housing Works in
the past three years. The other
two communities include
Canyon Edge Apartments, a
three-building 67-unit family
development on Reindeer Av-
enue near Canal Boulevard,
and Liberty Lodge, an 8-unit
community reserved for ten-
ants with developmental dis-
abilities.
To learn more about Hous-
ing Works and the variety of
housing services they provide
throughout Central Oregon,
visit www.housing-works.org,
or call 541-923-1018.
John Breen: Family of three living in
Redmond shelter after rent went up
HOW TO HELP
For suggestions on how to help the region’s
residents experiencing homelessness, contact
the Homeless Leadership Coalition by email at
info@cohomeless.org.
Ryan Brennecke/The Bulletin
John Breen, 79, sits down for a meal at the Redmond warming shelter at Mountain View Fellowship Church on Thursday, Jan. 20, 2022.
BY ZACK DEMARS
The Bulletin
T
he Redmond apartment
John Breen shared with
his wife and son fit the
family’s budget. Then the
landlord raised the rent
and their home went from afford-
able to unaffordable.
An increase from $965 a month
to $1,050 a month was all it took for
the 79-year old and his family to be
homeless for the first time.
“We lost our apartment because it
got to be too high for us — it’s sup-
posed to be low-income housing,
but it’s not,” Breen said. “They just
jacked it up, you know.”
That was five months ago. They’ve
been trying to find a new place to
live ever since.
“Me and my wife have been to-
gether 28 years and this is the first
time we’ve ever been homeless,”
Breen said.
Breen is a retired Walmart em-
ployee, and his wife worked for an
area motel until she got injured.
When the rent went up at their
apartment, they tried to find rent
Me and my
wife have been
together 28 years,
and this is the first
time we’ve ever been homeless.”
John Breen , 79, pictured above sitting down for a meal at the
Redmond warming shelter at Mountain View Fellowship Church earlier
this month
assistance to help cover the dif-
ference. The nonprofit they con-
tacted for help told the family they
made too much to qualify for as-
sistance.
“How much is too much? By the
time you cover the rent and the elec-
tricity and all the other stuff, you’ve
pretty much used up your money,”
Breen said.
When that didn’t work, the family
moved their belongings into a Bend
storage unit and started living out of
the family’s station wagon.
“(We) went from a big place to a
little car,” Breen said. “Had to put all
our stuff in storage, that’s expensive.”
When the weather got colder, and
the three wanted to save money on
gas, they found their way to the Red-
mond Winter Shelter, where they’ve
been staying.
Earlier this month, Breen and his
family pushed three mattress pads
together on one side of the shelter,
turning one corner of the gym-
nasium, where Shepherd’s House
hosted the shelter, into the best
home the family could find for the
time being.
Breen said the family wants to stay
in Redmond, where they’ve lived
for 20 years and raised their son.
They’re hoping to find new housing
in the next few weeks — but they ar-
en’t having an easy time.
He hopes the region can provide
more affordable housing for families
like his.
“We’re looking around right
now. The cheapest one we found
was $1,800 a month and there’s no
way we can afford that,” Breen said.
“That’s a robbery.”
Reporter: 541-617-7814,
zdemars@bendbulletin.com