18 May Bienestar receives $4 million award

In 1989, Bienestar built Montebello Apartments in southeast Hillsboro. Today 47 low-income families call Montebello home, but the property is increasingly in need of rehabilitation, with water damage affecting critical components of the structure. Bienestar has just received a $4 million award from Oregon Housing and Community Services to completely renovate the property, preserving its livability and affordability for many years to come.

Bienestar staff went together to Salem to turn in the application to OHCS.

“This is a big win for Bienestar and the families that call Montebello Apartments home,” said Executive Director Nathan Teske. “This funding will ensure a bright and stable future for the 200 residents that live in Montebello.”

Earning incomes below 50% of area median income (in 2017, this was $34,000 for a family of four), families who reside in Montebello rely on its affordability to remain housed and would face difficulty finding other housing if the property were not preserved and became unlivable.

“Montebello is my home,” said Alejandro Ortega, a Bienestar Board member and Montebello resident who has worked as a mechanic at Eshragi Nursery for the last 16 years. “I raised my family here. It’s important to me that we preserve this property for all the families who live here, and all the future families as well.”

The total hard construction cost is $6 million, which Bienestar will fund with the $4 million award, tax credits, and other investments. Construction is projected to start in spring of 2019, and finish by the end of 2019.