Hillsboro: Bienestar Tells City No Families in Its Apartments Faced Nonpayment Evictions
Editor’s note: An earlier Focus Hillsboro article about Bienestar at this address was lost when the site was rebuilt. This is a new, updated profile published Oct. 24, 2026.
Bienestar, the Hillsboro nonprofit that owns and runs affordable apartments for Latino, immigrant and low-income families, has told the city that no family in its Hillsboro apartments faced eviction for nonpayment during its three-year city grant. The claim appears in Bienestar’s own report in the Oct. 20 City Council packet, listed as an information item.
The three-page report, dated October 2026, covers the third year of Hillsboro’s Community Impact Grant. It does not state the grant amount, though the city’s program page says nonprofits may apply for up to $120,000 over three years. The results are self-reported, and the packet includes no city staff review of them.
What Bienestar told the city
The report says two sources of help reached 107 households with more than $240,000 in direct assistance. One is Bienestar’s own rent fund, the Esperanza Fund. The other is a partnership with Community Action of Washington County for rent and utility help.
The report goes further on evictions. It says no family in its “300+ unit portfolio in Hillsboro” faced eviction for nonpayment during the grant, and none did across its more than 750 units in Washington County.
A newer program carries the largest dollar figure. In September 2025, Bienestar began enrolling people in Oregon’s Medicaid housing benefit, which can cover rent, utilities and other housing costs for qualifying Oregon Health Plan members.
In that program’s first year, the report says, three case managers helped distribute nearly $500,000 in Medicaid funds to more than 150 households. It does not say how many of them live in Hillsboro.
Homebuying help grew too. The report says counseling clients rose from 60 to 140 households over the grant, and more than 20 first-time or first-generation buyers got down payment assistance.
Four complexes, 357 homes
The “300+” figure matches Bienestar’s own property listings. Its website lists four Hillsboro complexes, three of them on Southeast 12th and 13th avenues. Adding the unit counts on each property page gives 357 homes, our calculation.
| Property | Address | Homes | History, per Bienestar |
|---|---|---|---|
| Montebello | 220 SE 12th Ave. | 49 | Built 1998; rehab completed 2019 |
| Sierra West | 356 SE 12th Ave. | 57 | Built 1973; remodeled 2007 |
| Sunset Gardens | 951 SE 13th Ave. | 101 | Acquired May 2007; rehab done June 2008 |
| Nueva Esperanza | 5397 NE Hidden Creek Dr. | 150 | Opening celebrated May 2024 |
| Total | 357 | Our calculation |
Nueva Esperanza, the largest, drew on public money and city land. Metro reported in May 2024 that the $54 million complex used $17 million from Metro’s affordable housing bond and was built on six acres donated by the City of Hillsboro. Bienestar co-developed it with the nonprofit Housing Development Center.
Montebello’s renovation also drew state money, according to Bienestar. In 2018, Bienestar announced a $4 million award from Oregon Housing and Community Services to renovate the complex.
Roots in farmworker housing
Those buildings grew from a narrower start. Bienestar says it was founded in 1981 to give farmworkers and their families quality housing after years in substandard migrant camps. Its first community, Elm Park in Forest Grove, was built in 1983.
Today, the same page says, Bienestar owns and operates 14 affordable properties for more than 2,500 residents, and more than 95% of them are Latinx. Its stated mission is building “housing, hope, and community” for Latinx, immigrant and other families in need. Each property has at least one Promotor, a trained resident leader, according to its community services page.
The city’s own planning documents recognize that history. The draft Avenida Diez / 10th Avenue Equitable Development Strategy, part of the city’s 10th Avenue planning work, names Bienestar and Centro Cultural as two “formative examples” of community groups rooted in the area.
The budget behind the buildings
The latest tax return posted for Bienestar on ProPublica’s Nonprofit Explorer shows the scale of that work. Its 2024 Form 990, filed with the IRS in November 2025, reports revenue of $9,762,646, expenses of $9,451,146 and total assets of $46,655,743. It lists 34 employees and 774 units of affordable housing.
The 2025 annual report points to more Hillsboro activity. It says Bienestar obtained property in downtown Hillsboro for office space and future housing, and began rehabilitating 101 apartments in Hillsboro and Forest Grove. It does not name the sites. Nathan Teske signs the report as executive director.
For residents weighing a home purchase, Bienestar, a HUD-certified counseling agency, lists its next English homebuyer class on Oct. 27 and 29, 6 to 8:30 p.m. on Zoom. The next Spanish class is Nov. 17 and 19.
Top image: Illustrative image, 2013: an apartment building in the Tanasbourne area of Hillsboro (not a Bienestar property). Photo: M.O. Stevens, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons (cropped).