General Questions
Can OHCS define its own statewide AMI%, or is it tied to HUD's definition?
For federally funded programs, no. For state-only funded programs, the Legislature has the legal latitude to define income limits using a data source or methodology of its choosing. In practice, though, this rarely happens since:
- The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) area median income (AMI) is the number most lenders, developers, and compliance systems are built around and
- Creating a second AMI could create unique problems where households would qualify under the state but not federal. That’s not to say that a different state calculation for AMI is infeasible, but it carries potential benefits, considerations, and challenges for Oregonians.
Homeownership Questions
Is the Manufactured and Marina Communities Resource Center (MMCRC) fee increase supposed to be for increased mediation support for MMCRC tenants/landlords?
OHCS staff are working on different funding scenarios to provide sustainability to the MMCRC. OHCS is coordinating with the Governor’s Office and is excited to share more this fall.
Has there been consideration whether Treasury should manage OHCS debt management/bonds?
OHCS and Treasury have talked about this idea, but they will not pursue this option right now as OHCS has the housing expertise.
Can OHCS share more information about the MMCRC's activities and costs?OHCS’ Homeownership team has been working internally on divisional reorganization this year and reviewing how programs are run. OHCS aims to share these new plans and how it will support communities, while also being transparent with legislators, community members, and advocates.
Highlighting LIFT HOD dollars – Is OHCS considering AMI flexibility?
There is not a plan to do this right now, but OHCS is open to conversations on how this could work in the future.
How scalable is Flex Lending? Can we double or triple program without new GF resources? Can it be revenue-generative?
The OHCS Flex Lending program is scalable and can operate without new General Fund resources, but having down payment assistance that can be paired with Flex Lending allows OHCS to serve more Oregonians and scale up faster. OHCS is pursuing an option through one of its legislative concepts that would allow agency control over selling mortgage-backed securities, with the hope of using those proceeds to provide more funds to Flex Lending and down payment assistance programs.
Housing Stabilization Questions
What consideration is there for the preservation of Project Turnkey properties?
Project Turnkey is an eligible use of the shelter funding for the Statewide Shelter Program. We are not requesting separate funding to support Project Turnkey sites, but they are a priority within the statewide shelter system funding.
Thank you for being open and transparent about the realities that we're in. You were saying that there's CSL for shelters, for eviction prevention, and for pretty much all of the funding except for long-term rent assistance, but it's still a potential cut. Are you saying a potential cut to what was originally proposed in 25-27, or a new pending potential cut to all of those funds currently?
The Long-Term Rent Assistance funding we currently have is one-time funding that maintains the program in the original Executive Order regions where that program started and expands it to the Balance of State region. We don't have continuing service level funding (CSL) for the LTRA program.
The disparity between CSL funding and one-time funding for the 2025-27 biennium does impact different Housing Stabilization programs at varying levels. We are working closely with the Governor’s Office to highlight the programs and services that are at the greatest risk of losing critical resources, and we’re doing everything we can to try to maintain existing funding levels to preserve these vital services.
Just to clarify, CSL from 25-27 is still what is being expected and asked for, but each of the funding sources did get one-time funds, so there's a clarification being sought on whether CSL includes those one-time funds as well?
CSL does not include the one-time funding. Because we can only submit revenue-neutral policy option packages, we're having to look for opportunities to seek support for those additional investments in cooperation with the Governor's Office.
Can the state create its own program to provide insurance for shelter/housing? General feeling that insurance costs too much. How can OHCS reduce costs?
This would require action by the Legislature, and it is a concept that has been discussed in recent years. It is unclear what the likelihood is of this legislation moving forward. We have started making some progress on ways we can make it easier in the meantime by streamlining certain requirements, but we’ll be looking at a larger scale approach for the levels of insurance that we’re requiring based on the scale of operations.
Affordable Rental Housing Questions
Are performance issues at OHCS-funded properties a statistical outlier? How much do these problems impact the overall budget?
We take performance issues at OHCS-funded properties very seriously, and we have established robust systems to address these issues when they arise. We work closely with our regional and community partners to ensure every dollar of funding we provide is used in the most efficient and effective ways possible. Instances where performance issues have been discovered are incredibly rare, and they have had a negligible impact to our agency’s overall budget.