City of Bend receives $5 million federal grant to continue affordable housing efforts

In late June, it was announced that the city of Bend was awarded one of 21 grants given out by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development through the Pathways to Removing Obstacles to Housing, also known as PRO Housing initiative. The 21 communities received grants between $1 million and $6.7 million from a pool of $85 million. Bend is the only city in Oregon to receive this grant, which had applicants from over 175 different communities across the country. The PRO Housing grant awardees will use the money to fund programs which identify and remove barriers to affordable housing. Bend received $5 million, half the amount of funding initially asked for, and is in the process of altering the scope of their plan. Mellissa Kamanya, the affordable housing coordinator for the city of Bend, joins us to share more about the grant and next steps.