Bend city leaders made a significant move Wednesday to increase the supply of available housing in a region that needs far more places for people to live.
In a unanimous vote, city councilors tentatively approved adding a new type of housing to what developers can build, allowed homes to have a second kitchen and increased the number of alternative dwelling units, or ADUs, that can be built on a property to two. The final approval of those changes is scheduled for the end of this month.
The detached townhouse, what Bend is calling a “row house,” is a novel housing style that the city hasn’t tried yet. But local architect Ryan Starr said row houses have been around for centuries. He brought the idea to city leaders.
“It’s seemed very new and different to everybody that hears about it, but really, this is how we used to build,” he said. “This is how Boston was built, this is how New York was built, this is how huge portions of San Francisco was built.”
A row house is a narrow building, usually one to four stories, that sits in a row with other, similar homes. They often share a common wall but don’t have to.
FILE - New detached townhomes in development in Eagleville, Pa., on April 28, 2023. City councilors of Bend, Ore., are considering an update of the city code to allow alternative dwelling units like detached townhomes to be built in order to address the ongoing housing crisis.
Matt Rourke / AP
In Bend, a city code update would consider row houses an acceptable single-unit detached dwelling, cap the size depending on the lot, and apply all townhome building standards, except for the distance required on the side of each home.
Row houses have been an international housing option for centuries, and have housed the poorest to the wealthiest members of societies. In the United States, the construction is believed to have been first found in Philadelphia and is now a growing option for cities with increasing populations and rising housing costs.
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Bend leaders are considering allowing row houses in an effort to release pressure on a fully cooked housing market, where working-class people often hold two to three jobs to make ends meet. Two other Oregon cities that are similar in size and need to Bend — Beaverton and Hillsboro — already allow row houses or townhomes to be built within certain parameters.
Overheated housing market
Population booms over the past 15 years have turned Bend into a city of more than 100,000 people and made real estate in many neighborhoods unaffordable except for the most affluent residents. State regulators have told Bend to build more than 15,000 units in the next eight years, with half qualifying as affordable.
The detached townhouses city leaders are looking to allow will still follow almost all of the setback requirements put forth by the city for more traditional residential construction — except for one. Homes will have zero setback requirements on either side, allowing for buildings to be built within inches of each other. Setbacks regulate how close a structure can be built to a property line.
Starr said a revised policy will help developers afford to build and sell housing one unit at a time, rather than all at once.
Starr, who is a member of Bend’s pro-housing density “Yes in my backyard” group or YIMBY, said he came across the concept of row houses when he was working with a client who ran into cost issues trying to build townhomes in Bend. Had his client been able to build one home at a time, he said, she could have used money raised from one sale to finance the next, easing the process.
Bend planning commissioner Scott Winters said the new housing type would remove barriers to building more infill housing.
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The code update that city leaders are considering would also allow homes to have second kitchens, a change aimed at people whose parents or adult children live with them. Currently homes are only allowed to have one kitchen.
The policy shift would also increase the number of ADUs allowed on one parcel, from one to two, while restricting the size.
One ADU can be 800 square feet while the other is limited to 500 square feet under the proposal; the expansion of the policy is an attempt to encourage people to build affordable one bedroom units.
City councilors are scheduled to give their final approval on the code update at the next council meeting, June 18.
