HERMISTON — The city of Hermiston approved dozens of new housing permits in 2023 while seeing its population exceed 20,000.

According to a 2024 Growth & Development report, Hermiston approved 74 new housing permits last year, bringing that total to 548 new housing unit permits since Jan. 1, 2020. Those new permits include 108 for income-restricted apartments, 61 for manufactured homes, and 390 for other types of housing.

“With direction from the city council and community input, the city has made housing development and planning for the future a top priority,” City Manager Byron Smith said in a press release “We have worked closely with developers to identify potential sites and ensure infrastructure is in place to make these investments. The opening of the Moorehouse Apartments this year has already made a notable impact on the city’s housing inventory, and we look forward to seeing other developments come online in 2024.”

The city also completed the majority of work on several capital improvement projects in 2023, including the highly-anticipated North First Place rebuild. The project replaced aging water and sewer lines, repaved the street surface, and added continuous sidewalk between Hermiston Avenue and Elm Avenue.

“The Capital Improvement Plan makes sure we’re addressing immediate infrastructure needs, but also preparing for the future by combining projects that will need to be done in the near future,” Assistant City Manager Mark Morgan said in the press release. “By getting state funding to pay for the street and sidewalk on North First Place and replacing the water and sewer lines while the street was already torn up, we saved a considerable amount of money in the long term.”

According to the 2023 Portland State University Certified Population Estimates, Hermiston added 353 residents between July 2022 and July 2023, bringing the city’s population to 20,322.