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High Desert, Higher Costs: Bend and the Housing Crisis in the American West
Nestled against the Cascade Mountains, former lumber town Bend, Oregon, entices residents who long to live in a wonderland of sagebrush and forests. But like so many other communities across the West, Bend has too few homes for everyone clambering for access. In High Desert, Higher Costs, Jonathan Bach takes a closer look at the housing crisis in this mid-sized city that is both the population center for rural Central Oregon and a major recreation area. Bach uses Bend as a lens into the growing housing crisis in the region, where residents and tourists alike prize access to outdoor recreation, and housing issues have been brewing for decades.
Like other cities in Montana, Idaho, and Colorado, Bend serves as a gateway to popular natural areas while also experiencing a limited amount of new housing, increasing populations, amenity migrants in the age of remote work, depressed or stagnating wages, and a widening gulf between homeowners and renters. High Desert, Higher Costs introduces us to regular people—from the former political candidate evicted during COVID-19 to the nonprofit worker hoping to build apartments for the houseless—who struggle to call Bend home. Bach explores the causes of these issues and the political, legal, economic, and cultural factors influencing them, and also offers potential solutions for current and future residents to build their lives now, and in the years to come, in Bend and throughout the American West.
Like other cities in Montana, Idaho, and Colorado, Bend serves as a gateway to popular natural areas while also experiencing a limited amount of new housing, increasing populations, amenity migrants in the age of remote work, depressed or stagnating wages, and a widening gulf between homeowners and renters. High Desert, Higher Costs introduces us to regular people—from the former political candidate evicted during COVID-19 to the nonprofit worker hoping to build apartments for the houseless—who struggle to call Bend home. Bach explores the causes of these issues and the political, legal, economic, and cultural factors influencing them, and also offers potential solutions for current and future residents to build their lives now, and in the years to come, in Bend and throughout the American West.
200 pages, Paperback
Published April 29, 2025
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
June 15, 2025
An excellent book. The way the personal stories were woven in with the facts, statistics, and legislative information kept momentum going throughout the book, weaving everything together into what felt like a holistic picture of an incredibly complex issue. Well-written, engaging, informative, and human.
October 30, 2025
We live in Bend, so this s/b required reading for anyone thinking of moving there; housing is unaffordable to the average american, but the town has much to offer; Bach’s insights to the crisis in Bend also apply to many other desirable places to live in the west, like Boulder, CO, etc
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews