OFF PAGE ONE
Wednesday, January 5, 2022
Housing:
Weather:
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“We know that our region continues
to add employment, and so we feel that
the best way to ensure housing remains
affordable is to continue providing ade-
quate supply,” he said.
Hermiston does not need to focus too
much on traditional “affordable hous-
ing,” Morgan said. Developers in Herm-
iston can build single family homes all
day long because the market demand is
there and the prices allow for the turn of
a profit. Hermiston’s greatest housing
need is market-rate rentals.
That need “serves a very critical role
in community-building,” he said, but it
is not being filled.
“Specifically, I think about the folks
who we are attracting to the community
to fill new jobs being created here,” he
said. “I’m thinking about nurses, teach-
ers, etc., who are in their 20s, straight
out of college. On paper, the single most
important metric that most affordable
housing programs look at for eligibil-
ity is income, and on paper these folks
in their 20s have incomes that disqual-
ify them for ‘affordable housing,’ but
meanwhile they’re drowning in student
loan debt and have negative net worth.”
These people, Morgan said, have
incomes that would “otherwise qual-
ify them to make a mortgage payment.”
Still, they are a stage of life wherein
they cannot buy a home. With only site-
built homes for sale and income-re-
stricted rental housing — for which they
do not qualify — available, people with
new jobs in Hermiston have to live else-
where. Often, Morgan said, they will
move to Kennewick and endure a daily
commute.
“Inevitably, that person making the
commute will find a significant other in
Kennewick, decide that they don’t really
like commuting an hour every day, take
the first job they can get in Tri-Cities
and then make all of their significant life
investments there,” Morgan said.
They will buy a home, vehicles and
other goods in the Tri-Cities. This means
that Hermiston is missing out, Mor-
gan said, on what new people could
mean to the town’s economy and to its
community.
damage.
“We’re hopeful that Mother
Nature will play nice,” he said.
“But we know that in past
years we know she’s played
not-so-nice.”
Regardless of the historical
severity of the recent spate of
winter weather, the inclement
conditions shut down schools
and services across the region.
West
Umatilla
County
school districts — Hermiston,
Umatilla, Stanfield and Echo —
resisted closure, but all Morrow
County schools and most east
side districts canceled classes
Jan. 3, the first day back from
winter break. The closed K-12
schools were joined by Blue
Mountain Community Col-
lege, which canceled in-person
classes on all of its campuses,
and all state offices in Umatilla
County outside of courts.
Even if residents wanted to
travel to these closed places,
they might have a hard time
finding a way to get there.
ODOT closed Interstate 84
east of Pendleton along with
Highway 11 between Pendleton
and Milton-Freewater at vari-
ous points of the day. Both Rob-
erts and ODOT spokesperson
Tom Strandberg encouraged
residents to stay home, travel-
ing only if necessary.
Strandberg said there were
points on the evening of Jan.
2 where ODOT had to call off
plows because road visibility
meant the plows were moving
too slow to effectively remove
snow and ice. Even with so
many roads closed he discour-
aged residents from going
around road closure barriers, an
issue that has happened in the
past.
“We just want people to be
safe,” he said.
Although heavy precipita-
tion and warmer temperatures
HerMIsTOnHeraLd.COM • A7
Ben Lonergan/Hermiston Herald
Snow drifts cover Helix Highway, Monday, Jan. 3, 2022, near its intersection with Adams Road in rural
Umatilla County.
Ben Lonergan/Hermiston Herald
An Oregon Department of Transportation truck Monday, Jan. 3, 2022, blocks Highway 11 near its intersection
with Highway 331. State and county roads were closed in much of Eastern Oregon due to winter weather.
created conditions for signif-
icant flooding in the county in
2019 and 2020, Roberts said
the county only is anticipat-
ing minor street flooding at
this point, but conditions could
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