“Building Community”: Introducing Our Virtual Newsletter
Approximately two years ago, the Missing Middle Housing Fund was created with a very specific goal in mind – to connect innovators, thinkers, and doers to solve Oregon’s workforce housing underproduction crisis. We set out to find ways to build homes faster and at a lower cost so that we could ultimately double our current home production rates from 15,000-20,000 units a year to 30,000-40,000.
At the heart of our efforts has been building a community. We have deepened relationships with business leaders, politicians, policymakers and influencers, developers, contractors, home product and design companies, financiers, and communities who share an overwhelming need to positively impact the lives and wellbeing of the missing middle-income population, those making 80-120% of the average median income. If we can help these people find affordable homes closer to where they work, they can take one step closer to reaching their full potential. This, in turn, snowballs to drive economic prosperity of the businesses that employ them and the communities in which they live.
As with many communities across our state, there is typically a centralized meeting place, akin to a town square, where residents or members can come together to engage in dialogue, share news and information, and trade ideas on how to make their communities stronger. They also serve as locations to celebrate, whether it be for holidays, festivals, or big “wins”.
Today we are happy to announce that we are creating our own virtual town square with the release of our first newsletter, titled “Building Community”. Our hope is that it will serve as a resource for workforce housing industry news, innovations, and partnerships, and ultimately encourage our community to share insights and inspire action. And, perhaps most especially, we intend for it to be the place where we celebrate progress we will make together in workforce housing over the years to come.
In this inaugural, Spring issue, we provide a brief introduction to our history and approach, share an overview of our current work in action with the City of Newberg, where we are partnering with SEDCOR and employers in the Newberg Workforce Housing Consortium to creatively and efficiently use up to $3M in state-supported funding to build new workforce housing units, highlight the two winners from our housing innovation workshop, and shine a spotlight on our financial partner, Umpqua Bank.
Although we intend to publish this newsletter on a quarterly basis, we will continue to share relevant news and insights on our website and blog more frequently. Because we view these resources as a way to engage with you, our community, we welcome ideas and topics for submission. Please reach out to us at info@missingmiddle.fund with any suggestions or to sign up to receive our next issue.
We look forward to seeing you in our town square and building community together.