Building Oregon's Future
Tell Your Oregon State Legislators About Your Vision for Oregon Homes.
Imagine what it would mean if Oregon had a significant investment in safe, decent, affordable homes. We hope it would mean family shelters that aren't bursting at the seams trying to give kids a place to rest before school. We hope it would mean that homes with doors, walls, and ceilings are available instead of doorways. We hope it would mean homes are available at prices workers can afford and that save precious hours and travel expenses. What does building Oregon’s future mean to you? What would change in your life, in your experience, with available and affordable homes? What are you excited to bring to the table to help create housing opportunity?
Send legislators your hopes and vision by following our letter template and on Facebook or Twitter with the hashtag #homes4Oregon.
Tell us your vision—what does building Oregon’s future look like to you?
What Others Are Saying
"When victims of violence have safety and stability, they can begin to rebuild their lives and the lives of their children. Funding for emergency housing assistance as well as permanent affordable housing resources can save lives, and futures."
-Oregon Alliance to End Violence Against Women
"The $100M recommended by the Governor to help mitigate some of these closed loops by providing straight paths to success in permanent domiciles is critical to the betterment of our most vulnerable families. We ask you to support our Governor's proposal."
-Benton County
"By partnering together we can target populations in our community, such as those struggling with mental health conditions, low-income seniors, medically fragile, or those exiting the prison system, and build housing coupled with services that meet their specific needs onsite."
-Deschutes County
"As people of faith, we are responsible to create communities where everyone belongs, where diversity is valued, and where the dignity of the most vulnerable is safeguarded. We are committed to a society where all people have the opportunity to achieve their full human potential and to thrive."
-Ecumenical Ministries of Oregon
"In Douglas County, we dream of taking a manufactured home park with worn out, falling apart trailers and building snug little small houses in their place. We dream about creating housing for men and women re-entering the community after incarceration, so they have safe, affordable housing from which they can rebuild their lives, and helping homeowners who need home repairs stay in the homes they worked so hard for."
-Stacey Howard, Douglas County
"Currently, our family pays more than 50% of income for housing. Investment in affordable homes would mean the opportunity for the two working teens in our household of 7 to save their wages toward education rather than contribute the majority of their earnings toward the rent."
-Annee von Borg, Washington County
Flexible bond funding from the State would leverage PDC urban renewal funding and buy down rent levels to serve lower income households. It could also enable the project to include larger family units, which would support the goals of ROSE's Baby Booster initiative, a partnership with Kaiser Permanente, OHSU, APANO, NAYA, the Children's Institute, and others. Baby Booster is designed to support pregnant women and families with children under age two. We know that the first thousand days of a child's life are the most important stage of development, and we know that housing stability is key to family stability.
- ROSE CDC
"Children need a home to succeed in school and in life. It is absolutely unacceptable that there are 20,000 homeless children in Oregon. We must invest in housing opportunity for our families if we want to increase student achievement and raise our graduation rate."
-Ruth Adkins, Multnomah County
"The North Central Regional Solutions team has prioritized attainable housing with recognition that the lack of housing options deter employers' ability to attract and retain employees. Our region's Community Health Improvement Plan has identified affordable housing as a priority issue and is developing strategies for action that ensure measurable health improvement for our communities. We look forward to the $100 million capital resource to leverage the community support and local resources in creating diverse and vibrant communities where ALL can have an affordable place to call home."
-Joel Madsen, Columbia Cascade Housing Corporation
"If there were more housing available there would be less competition and less discrimination of who can get into housing. Someone in my line of work (housing social services) could then focus more effectively on situations that are truly emergencies and require limited intervention."
-Lisa Hayes, Clackamas County
Housing Authority of Jackson County
We imagine leveraging the state resource by authorizing a portion of our voucher authority to be project based in funded projects. We anticipate we would be able to offer about 20% project based vouchers in any project funded in our area. We are also excited about the possibility of exploring a housing first approach with these funds.
In 1994, Hacienda acquired 177 units of aging housing stock in NE Portland's Cully neighborhood, and converted it to affordable housing. To date, Hacienda has rebuilt or fully rehabbed 70 units, leaving a remaining 108 apartment homes that have now reached the end of their useful life. Hacienda is proposing to rehab these units as well as add an additional 40 units of affordable family apartment homes. Hacienda is eager to reduce overall costs in the redevelopment of this much needed housing, and sees the new $100 million in state bond funding as an opportunity to combine bond funding with other flexible funds, thereby completing the rebuild in a timely and cost-effective manner and providing housing opportunity and stability for low-income residents in outer NE Portland.
- Hacienda CDC
CASA of Oregon proposes to develop a new 40-unit manufactured home community in Yamhill County, Oregon that will be owned by the residents as a limited equity, non-profit cooperative. This type of ownership structure allows for long-term affordability. (CASA has already converted seven parks to community ownership with another four planned for the next biennia.)
- CASA of Oregon (Community and Shelter Assistance Corp.)
Make sure your legislators and their colleagues know that housing is a priority and to support funding the Housing Alliance Agenda budget items below: Immediate Resources
- Prevent and end homelessness by allocating $20 million to the Emergency Housing Account (EHA) and State Homeless Assistance Program (SHAP). Write a letter today.
- $20 million in Lottery Backed Bonds to preserve currently affordable homes. Write a letter today.
- $5 million to ensure the continued success of the Oregon Foreclosure Avoidance (OFA) Program
Build for the future
- Support the Governor’s request for $100 million to increase housing opportunity. Write a letter today.
The Oregon Housing Alliance is convened by the nonprofit Neighborhood Partnerships