Central Oregon has a major housing shortage, and Madras is no exception. The Madras City Council has prioritized the problem in its strategic goals which led to the adoption of a Housing Action Plan in December 2018. The action plan incentivizes building of new housing for all income levels.
Three efforts from the plan currently underway include:
1) decreasing System Development Charges (SDCs) by ordinance passage on April 23, 2019;
2) streamlining the renewal process for subdivisions with expired land use decisions;
3) to be completed by May 2019, a feasibility study for creating a new Housing Urban Renewal District (HURD) to help lower the costs and barriers for new housing, targeting implementation by fall 2019.
