Hive Development

Want to learn more about the homes we build for Thistle & Nest. Register today!

Join our Board President, Amy Warren; our Project Manager, Geneva Wise-Strauss; and other industry professionals in this panel organized by HomeSource. Tuesday, October 29th from noon-1pm at The Environmental@ Center. Learn from incredible speakers as they discuss climate resilience and its critical connection to housing, highlighting how climate impacts disproportionately affect vulnerable communities.

Please RSVP at the form linked in the comments.

This event does not necessarily reflect the mission/opinion of The Environmental Center.

Hive Development was just certified as a WBE (Woman Owned Business Enterprise) by the State of Oregon! I am very excited for this. I also need to use this as an opportunity to state a sad fact. This is a high barrier certification, and is one of two coveted certifications, the other being MBE (Minority Business Enterprise). I have witnessed many of my peers who are minorities not be able to get this certification because they are not citizens. And, I have heard the negative responses to that statement, like they should be citizens. But, I know MANY who have approached citizenship the "legal" way who continue to get denied. I have encountered many in my homeownership work who cannot qualify for a loan because of citizenship, even though they have lived & worked here for years and are doing it right. It is shameful that Oregon - the state of liberal equity - puts this restriction on the certification. If you bust your ass in this country, you should have path to citizenship and the right to this certification.

Business Oregon : Minority/Women Business Enterprise (MBE/WBE) Certification : Minority/Women Business Enterprise (MBE/WBE) Certification : State of Oregon Minority Business Enterprise (MBE) and Women Business Enterprise (WBE) certifications are for minority-owned and women-owned businesses seeking opportunities for state, county, and city government, and special jurisdiction (e.g. hospitals and universities) contracts. M/WBE are based on the individua...

We are proud to announce.... Bend Oregon

State funds 19 new affordable owner-occupied homes in SE Bend, start of 95-unit development - KTVZ Oregon’s Housing Stability Council awarded Woodhaven Community Housing more than $1.9 million on Friday as part of their 2022 LIFT Homeownership funding allocation for 19 deed-restricted, affordable owner-occupied housing units in southeast Bend, the start of a planned 95-unit development.

“Growing up in a community connected across class lines improves kids’ outcome and gives them a better shot at rising out of poverty.”

Today's NYT Morning Newsletter poses a good reason to support mixed income communities as a part of affordable housing goals.

The Morning: ‘Friending bias’ Social scientists have made it a priority in recent years to understand upward mobility. They have used tax records and other data to study which factors increase the chances that children who grow up in poverty will be able to escape it as adults.

This rootless place
This place with carpet that has been soiled, and cleaned with chemicals, like lipstick on a pig
This sunless place with smells that are not mine
This place, where I make a strong-handed choice to pay someone else for a roof over my head that is well beyond my means, while mold grows in my walls
This place that devours most of my paycheck, at the sacrifice of my health, my sanity, my family, and my joy
This place that holds me down, because if I make more money, my subsidy will vanish
This place I lay my head, but is not home

This rootless place
This place where I work, with a scripted smile, to serve others dinner and cocktails
This place where I serve luxury, multiple jobs, countless hours, and cannot provide the bare minimum for my children
This place that breaks me daily, yet I cannot show weakness
This place where I am unseen

This rootless place
This place I can never leave to my children
This place I can never afford to leave
This place where I was born, but can never stay
This rootless place

But what if……

What if this place had roots?
What if I worked a normal work week, could afford my home, and my utilities did not get shut off?
What if I had time with my family?
What if work was joyful and not just a shackle to my expenses?
What if I wasn’t always tired?

What if this place had roots?
What if I could enjoy the town I live in – maybe walk by the river in the park?
What if my smile, when I serve people meals and cocktails, could come from joy, and not just the need for a tip?
What if I were seen, because I have something valuable to add?

What if this place had roots?
What if this place could be a source of pride?
What if I could create a gift to leave?
What if I laid my head in a place that was home?
What if this place, this home, smelled like the sweetness of my children, the smell that I wanted to bottle as a perfume when they were babies so I could smell it forever?
What if this place had roots?

I spent last week at the annual Northwest Community Land Trust Coalition conference hosted by Chelan Valley Housing Trust, which is always packed with great learning opportunities. Hive will use the land trust model for some of our affordable homes but is not a CLT because they are nonprofit organizations by definition. So, why choose a for profit model for affordable housing – it sounds like an oxymoron? Pride in ownership – a game-changing factor in housing and in business. For the same reason one puts heart, soul and labor into a home they own vs. rent, it was crucially important for me to own what I put my heart, soul and labor into. I firmly believe that if we are going to address the housing challenge in a meaningful way, we NEED for profit organizations to get in the game of affordable. Don’t you agree?!