Oregon Devotes $10M for 63 New Homes, Actually Apartments

The Oregon Housing and Community Services department announced Wednesday the launching of a $10 million dollar housing project.

   Money will go towards building what the state calls 63 'homes'

OHCS released what are called Notices of Funding Availability, or NOFA, for two projects. According to OHCS officials, this new process streamlines funding by stressing that funding go towards projects that can be started rapidly. The new process is called Oregon Centralized Applications, or ORCA.

The initial found of funds is going to a pair of projects, according to OHCS:

 "The first funding reservation approvals under ORCA were granted to Lighthouse Village Apartments in Lincoln City and Shortstack Belmont Apartments in Portland. The projects will now receive a letter of intent to fund so the project can leverage other resources as needed and to firm up the project’s readiness for next steps."

These two projects contain a total of 63 units, but OHCS is referring to them as 'homes.'   In today's modern real estate vocabulary, homes is generally thought to be single-family dwellings.  The Lincoln City project is pictured below.

Oregon, like WA and some other states, is facing areas that have critical housing shortages. However, the majority of the funding for housing in both states from the state is for multi-family units.

Oregon officials have not specified what the financial criteria will be for renters, but this information from the mission statement of OHCS might shed some light:

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"Through ORCA, OHCS works to maximize housing production resources, support Black, Indigenous, and People of Color-led organizations, ensure urban and rural development, and center tenants in building design and funding strategies."