PROGRESS SPECIAL SECTION
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 26, 2019
EASTERN
OREGON
SEES
JUMP
IN NEW
HOUSING
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Monte Vista Homes has a track record of development in the Hermiston area. The property development company is currently fi nishing up in their Desert Shadows subdivision.
Communities see increase in
building permits for housing
By JADE MCDOWELL
East Oregonian
UMATILLA COUNTY —
After years of struggling to fos-
ter more housing, communities
in Umatilla and Morrow coun-
ties are seeing a payoff with an
increased rate of home building.
For years, Hermiston issued
about 45 building permits for new
homes per year, but in 2017 that
jumped up to 60 new homes and
in 2018 the city approved permits
for 69 new homes and one duplex.
New subdivisions that are cur-
rently in the planning stages could
push new housing levels higher in
the near future. The city recently
annexed in land off of Theater
Lane and West Elm Avenue that
represent a combined total of 92
new homes developers are plan-
ning to build. Another Theater
Lane-area project, Cimarron Ter-
race, is platted to eventually hold
close to 100 homes.
Construction of a 49-unit
apartment complex off of Sixth
Street is also underway, and
assistant city manager Mark
Morgan said that developers are
taking a closer look at the possi-
bility of adding more housing in
the northeast part of town as the
city works on a new water tower
and water mains in the area.
“There has defi nitely been
some interest,” he said.
Bringing new housing to the
area has been one of the Herm-
iston city council’s top goals in
recent years. The city gathered
input from developers on what
barriers were holding them back
from meeting pent-up demand
in the area, then worked on cor-
responding adjustments, such as
decreasing setback and lot size
requirements.
“Our overall philosophy from
the start has been to do what we
can do to lay the groundwork for
private developers to come in and
create housing,” he said, noting
the city hadn’t focused on spe-
cifi c types of housing.
Morgan said as the Tri-Cit-
ies housing market has increas-
ingly outpaced Hermiston home
and apartment prices, that has
increased the number of people
more interested in staying on the
Oregon side.
Hermiston isn’t the only East-
ern Oregon city to benefi t from
a surge in housing. The city of
Umatilla issued nine permits for
new homes in 2014, 11 in 2015,
14 in 2016, 17 in 2017 and 56 per-
mits in 2018. City manager David
Stockdale has said that the city
expects that 2018 is not a one-
time spike, but the start of a hous-
ing boom that will last for years
to come.
Umatilla is joining Stanfi eld
and Echo in a comprehensive
housing study that is looking at
current housing needs in the cit-
ies, projected needs 20 years
down the road, available residen-
tial land and barriers to develop-
ment. The goal of the project is
to come up with recommenda-
tions for housing policy to help
the three cities meet upcoming
demand for housing.
In April, Milton-Freewater’s
planning commission considered
a plat from Spyglass LLC for a
12-acre subdivision on Key Bou-
levard that would hold 49 homes.
Pendleton saw a temporary
dip in new housing in 2016, but
issued 55 single-family dwelling
permits in 2017 and another 55 in
2018. The city is expected to have
another strong housing year in
2019, particularly when it comes
to adding apartments.
I&E Construction is planning
a 204-unit apartment complex,
known as the Westgate Apart-
ments, while Pendleton devel-
oper Al Plute has repurposed part
of the Bowman building into 18
apartments.
Ground was also broken
recently on a 100-unit complex at
Pendleton Heights.
In Morrow County housing
growth has been steadier, but
is still happening. The city of
Boardman saw a new apartment
complex go in during 2018 after
employing a wide range of tactics
to recruit new housing. Last fall
the county launched an in-depth
housing analysis in partner-
ship with its fi ve cities, Angelo
Planning Group and Johnson
Economics.
Strong job market favors job seekers
Robust job market and
low unemployment
rate can provide
a challenge for
employers
By JADE MCDOWELL
East Oregonian
UMATILLA COUNTY —
Umatilla County has come a long
way since the Great Recession.
The robust job market and
unemployment rate hovering
below 5% are good news for peo-
ple searching for work, but can
sometimes provide a challenge
for employers.
Bud Stephens, who recently
opened Stateline Trucking School
in Hermiston, said drivers going
through the four- to six-week
training process have all been
graduating with a job — often
selected from multiple offers.
“The market is in favor of the
drivers,” he said.
Stephens described a “huge”
truck driver shortage in the
Hermiston area, which sees
heavy truck traffi c stemming
from local distribution centers,
such as Walmart and FedEx.
Finding qualifi ed long-haul or
regional drivers willing to spend
days or weeks on the road away
from home can be diffi cult.
“It’s mostly a lifestyle thing,”
he said.
Walmart announced last year
that they were boosting the pay of
their drivers nationwide to help
retain employees.
For anyone who would rather
stick closer to home, Mid-Co-
lumbia Bus Company is always
working to recruit drivers for
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Job seekers mingle with potential employers during a job fair recently at the Hermiston Community Center.
school buses in the region.
Amberlina Shafer, a recruit-
ment specialist for the company,
said people get intimidated about
the size of the buses, but there is
plenty of training that goes into
the process, and “driving for the
kids is actually a very big joy.”
According to a recent report by
the Oregon Employment Depart-
ment, there were 1,629 job vacan-
cies reported in Eastern Oregon
(defi ned as the state’s eight most
eastern counties) during 2018.
Seventy-eight percent of the
vacancies required no education
beyond a high school diploma,
while 68% of the openings paid
less than $15 per hour. The aver-
age wage was $14.84 an hour,
jumping over $30 for people with
a bachelor’s degree or higher.
Although there are hundreds
of unfi lled positions in Umatilla
and Morrow counties per year,
not all of them are necessarily a
match for job seekers. Nearly 200
workers were laid off by Union
Pacifi c Railroad near Hermiston
in May, and the jobs that were cut
for the most part offered much
higher wages than some of the
manufacturing and food process-
ing companies who are always
recruiting.
There is also a question about
what type of work people are
willing to do. At Pendleton’s Key-
stone RV plant it isn’t unusual to
see a new hire quit after a week or
two when they decide the manu-
facturing industry isn’t for them.
“It’s defi nitely an ongoing
struggle,” human resource man-
ager Courney Wallis said.
For others, however, jobs like
the ones at Keystone can be a
blessing. The company is will-
ing to hire employees right out of
high school with no experience
and train them on the job, allow-
ing them to work their way up
through the company the longer
they stay.
Some companies compete
for workers with fl exible sched-
ules, extra vacation time or other
perks. Human resources manager
Rosa Hays of Newly Weds Foods
in Pendleton said they offer fl ex-
ibility for college students to
earn money while they’re home
for summers and even squeeze
in some hours during Christmas
and spring breaks if they want.
Alescia Rosenbalm of Wild-
horse Resort and Casino said that
offering a “great benefi ts pack-
age” helps recruit workers.
“It’s hard fi nding good quality
people to match the positions we
have open,” she said.
Those positions can include
housekeeping, groundskeeping,
cooking, serving food, manage-
ment and more. Rosenbalm said
the past year had been especially
diffi cult fi nding workers.
Not every company feels they
have trouble recruiting workers.
At a recent job fair in Herm-
iston, Jane DeSimone, a recruiter
for Portland General Electric,
said the company had fared well
on keeping its plants in the area
staffed.
“It’s usually not such a prob-
lem for us. ... We’re a strong
employer with a good reputation
and good wages and benefi ts,”
she said.
Layoffs are coming as the
company prepares to close its
coal-fi red plant in Boardman at
the end of 2020. For those who
aren’t interested in transferring
to a different plant or retiring,
the company is partnering with
Blue Mountain Community Col-
lege to offer free college classes
to employees losing their jobs to
the closure.
As some jobs leave the
area, others are arriving. Lamb
Weston, Hermiston’s largest
employer, recently added 150
new employees as part of a $250
million expansion of its pota-
to-processing plant.