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