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About The Bulletin. (Bend, OR) 1963-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 24, 2021)
INSIDE: DEAR ABBY, HOROSCOPE, PUZZLES & FEATURES C1 B USINESS THE BULLETIN • SUNDAY, JANUARY 24, 2021 bendbulletin.com/business These new Bend homes may be S M A L L , but they pack an environmentally sustainable PUNCH Ryan Bukstein opens a series of glass doors leading to the back deck of a recently completed home in a new energy-efficient development by Hiatus Homes in Bend. BY SUZANNE ROIG • The Bulletin When Mary Ostafi and her husband, Joe Ostafi, drove up to the model home of Hiatus Roanoke in northwest Bend, she knew she had found her place. Everything about the 1,200 -square -foot home hit all her must-have buttons. Sustainable building products : check. Small footprint : check. Energy efficient : check. She found the right home in a commu- nity of other sustainable, energy efficient homes being built by tiny home builder Hiatus Homes, a small home development company founded by Jesse Russell of Bend. “I’m a huge proponent of small living and sustainability,” Mary Ostafi said. “To me, this was living my value. I was excited to see a small, stylish, nicely designed, effi- cient home in the neighborhood I wanted to live in.” One of two bedrooms. Living tiny has been a trend for the past decade as more millennials and aging baby boomers decide to lessen their car- bon footprint on the world by scaling back. Tiny home communities have become popular, particularly in urban areas like Portland. Tiny home building is at the heart of what Hiatus Homes offers: It first built a 22-home development in southeast Bend called Hiatus Benham, a collection of 598-square-foot cottages that initially sold for about $230,000. See Homes / C8 Upstairs living room and kitchen. Ryan Brennecke/Bulletin photos Government has important role in recovery of businesses I t’s hard not to feel fatigued as we watch restaurants, entertainment centers and shops continue to struggle. Es- pecially when we can finally see the end of suffering with COVID-19 vaccines just over the horizon. As we wait for herd immunity and the new normal, Congress, the Oregon Legislat ure and local elected officials can help bring relief in the short-term while delivering programs and policies that sta- bilize the long term. INSIDE BUSINESS By Katy Brooks Let’s start with focusing on the next several months and what small businesses need to survive. More federal finan- cial assistance that doesn’t add debt to struggling businesses will help keep their doors open in the short-term. Along with a financial shot in the arm, we need a literal (vaccine) shot in the arm. A lot of them. The federal government must ex- ponentially increase the de- livery of vaccines delivered to as many people as possible, as quickly as possible. In Oregon, the slow and seemingly disorganized dis- tribution of the vaccine has created frustration and risk. The recent dissemination of thousands of doses at the state fairgrounds in partnership with local health care was one example of how we can do this more quickly. The state needs to be consistent, develop an efficient supply chain and dis- tribution network and pursue more partnerships with both the public and private sectors. This is our best hope of saving lives, restarting the economy and getting businesses back on their feet. The 2021 Legislature can also help reinvigorate the econ- omy by refraining from add- ing more burden to businesses trying to recover. An example of policies that would help with this include liability protec- tion for businesses that remain open to the public, financial assistance from the state to businesses straining to meet new regulations and allowing businesses to use their federal grants without paying state taxes on them. All this needs to be achieved with an acknowledgment of who has been most impacted. Central Oregon’s tourism- related businesses have been closed and employees and out of work the longest. Addition- ally, minority and small busi- nesses have borne the brunt of the impacts of COVID-19 because they often have little or no savings and leveraged their personal assets and homes to run their businesses. Displaced employees who work for these businesses will need training and a path to new employ- ment. See Recovery / C8