From the Portland Tribune...
When it comes to housing, Portlanders place a high value on affordability and sustainability.
That was a major finding of the approximately 13,000 public surveys compiled and released last year as part of VisionPDX, the community visioning project championed by Mayor Tom Potter.
Such results help explain why various city agencies and the Metro regional government are trying to create green housing for families with young children.
Now a local nonprofit agency that builds and sells new homes is showing how it can be done. HOST Development Inc. is finishing work on the first homes in its Helensview Homes development — the first traditional single-family neighborhood project in town to receive LEED-ND (Neighborhood Development) certification.
“Our goal is to prove that green living can be affordable,” said HOST deputy director Ted Salter.
The development is located near Northeast 64th Avenue and Killingsworth Street. When completed, it will include 40 new homes and 12 flat-stacked condominiums, all designed to meet LEED and Energy Star standards. Environmentally friendly features range from nontoxic paint to low-flow water fixtures to native landscaping.
Prices will range from $196,000 for a two-bedroom home to $248,000 for a four-bedroom one. That is well below the current $339,900 median home price in Portland — and even less than the $286,000 median home price for the metropolitan region, which includes Clark County.
