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The list of obstacles contributing to a housing crunch in Southern Oregon — and most parts of the country — won’t magically disappear in 2019. It might even be worse with interest rates rising. There’s no escaping it, even with new single-family residences on the market, more home sellers, and new multifamily projects opening in the year to come, housing supply won’t keep pace with demand. “Financing is starting to become an issue,” said Andrew Owen, principal architect and project manager at OWR Architects in Medford. “In our area the rents that can be asked are starting to make it pretty difficult to pencil out a project, unless you have a sizable amount of cash on hand. The idea for most developers is to work with financed money, so that can be a problem.” The ranks of people in the building trades were depleted during the Great Recession, leaving subcontractors in short supply for years. That has slowed any number of projects and driven up costs along with materials and tariffs. Zoning is another issue confronting multifamily developers. “There’s really not a lot of land zoned for higher-density residential development,” Owen said. Nonetheless, builders are grinding on. The 92-unit first phase of an expected 300-unit Stewart Meadows Village development in Medford is rapidly rising and is among the most visible examples of what will begin leasing in 2019. A mixed-use, 120-unit project in the Cedar Links area is winding its way through the planning process and is scheduled to begin building late next year. There are other projects in the works. In west Medford behind the Jackson Creek Center, the Housing Authority of Jackson County is slated to open an $11 million, 64-unit project off Ross Lane in November. The Newbridge development will house between 200 and 215 tenants in eight residential buildings adorned with a community center. A dozen units are reserved for military veterans. HAJC, which owns and manages more than 30 complexes with more 1,500 units, broke ground in October on the 3.5-acre development that bumps up against the city’s western urban growth boundary. Despite a variety of challenges, Andrea Miranda, project developer for the Housing Authority, said Newbridge will meet its three-year project deadline. “We’ve had a lot of time delays, working with vacant land and active orchards next door,” Miranda said. “The storm-water plans, partitioning and land-use issues added more to the holding costs.” She said it tacked on another 10 percent to the project bill. “Everything was higher: labor, tariffs and building materials,” Miranda said. “There’s a shortage from all the natural disasters, the hurricanes, wildfires and everything else. We’re getting hit from many sides, plus we need more building labor in Jackson County.” Unlike some of the housing authority’s projects, Newbridge required building streets and underground infrastructure. Newbridge Way, Harbinger Lane and Stillpond Street will become part of the city map. The organization will begin accepting applications late next summer for one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments ranging from 690 square feet to 1,200 square feet. Miranda was also tasked with naming the HAJC property, sometimes an arduous endeavor in its own right. “With Newbridge, I looked at the partnerships we wrap our services around and some of the folks involved in that,” Miranda said. “It involves a new start for people and a bridge to where they are going and their connections.” Even while Newbridge construction is rolling along, HAJC plans to break ground in February on a 50-unit project on Haskell Street in Central Point. There are private projects planned, as well. A three-story, 36-unit complex ORW is spearheading for Stylus Development on East Barnett Road — known as “2100” Barnett Apartments — is expected to break ground in early 2019. Located between a podiatrist practice and townhouses collectively known as Orchard Hill Villas, the market-rate apartments will target the vicinity’s growing medical sector, Owen said. “It’s centrally located, and we think it will appeal to folks moving into the area who are transitioning into jobs at the hospital.” A key component in making the project financially viable, he said, was rezoning the property to allow 30 units per acre from 20. “Density, in my opinion, is something we’re going to have to look at,” Owen said. “There is only so much land, so sprawling out as far as we can go is not the best solution. We’re going to have to get zoning regulations that allow buildings of a higher nature.” The maximum construction height, however, is 35 feet, which essentially limits buildings to three stories. One of the more intriguing housing projects of 2019 is still on the drawing board. But Joe Westerman of Evergreen Builders in Tigard anticipates Cedar Links Apartments, a seven-building, 160,000-square-foot, planned unit development will begin construction by the end of next year. The L-shaped, 120-unit development on five acres on the northwest corner of Cedar Links Drive and Farmington Avenue will feature ground-level commercial space with one- and two-bedroom apartments on the second and third floors. “We’re still tweaking things,” said Westerman, whose firm owns and manages 700 rental units in the Portland area. “I know we will be building by the end of 2019.” Dozens of single-family residence applications will turn into lots during 2019. Among them are Twin Creek Development’s 42-lot subdivision northeast of the Lone Pine Road and North Foothills Road intersection. Middlefork Creek Planned Unit Development is proposing a 105-lot residential subdivision on 27.82 acres between East Barnett Road and Coal Mine Road. Reach reporter Greg Stiles at 541-776-4463 or [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter at @GregMTBusiness or www.facebook.com/greg.stiles.31.