ReOregon: Household Assistance

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ReOregon Renter Survey

Complete and submit the Renter Survey to help OHCS design programs and housing options for wildfire survivors who were renters at the time of the 2020 Labor Day Disasters. Renters could include those who lived in RVs, secondary buildings on a property, apartments, a home that was rented, or other similar situations. This survey should take no more than 15 minutes to complete.

Recovery Programs

The goal of the recovery programs is that all fire-impacted individuals and households have equitable access to the resources necessary to be housed safely, sustainably, permanently, affordably, and in their housing of choice. The Homeowner Assistance and Reconstruction Program (HARP) is a housing replacement program for homeowners who lost homes to the fires. The Homeownership Opportunities Program (HOP) is a housing program for renters who lost their place of residence due to the fires. The Intermediate Housing Assistance (IHA) program can utilize funds to support rent assistance, relocation costs, and housing navigation. 

To stay up to date on all program updates including, program launch dates, new phases, FAQs, and more; please subscribe for updates.

Due to rising housing costs, a lack of available housing, disaster impacts to renters, and overall impact to housing availability in the most impacted disaster areas, ReOregon will help replace destroyed housing stock with affordable homeownership opportunities for disaster-impacted first-time homebuyers. The program will fund the development of new homes to be sold to those types of homebuyers (up to 120% of area median income).

Prefabricated (including manufactured) homes may only be placed on land owned by the resident-owner(s) or in manufactured housing parks when the landowners or park owners agree to meet all program requirements including maintaining long-term affordability.

• The awards to the homebuyer will be structured as a fully or partially forgivable, 0-interest loan or grant. The award amount and structure will be calculated based on the applicant’s household income, other reasonably priced resources available to the applicant for home purchase, and projected costs for maintaining the home and housing costs (e.g., property taxes, homeowner and flood insurance, utilities).
• Buyers won’t be required to qualify for a first mortgage to be eligible for the program.
• Any loan repayment will be made over a period of time that will make the payments affordable for the homebuyer. If the property is sold prior to full repayment, the balance of the repayable portion of the loan will be due upon sale.
• The property will be maintained as affordable housing for the duration of a property affordability period, which may be longer than the term of the loan or grant to the homebuyer.

This program will subsidize the development and construction of new homes that are more affordable, energy-efficient, and resilient in the face of future disasters. The development subsidies may be made available on a competitive basis through a Notice of Funding Availability (NOFA) from OHCS or via grants to local governmental or nonprofit housing development partners.

OHCS will partner with local and Tribal governments, long-term recovery groups, culturally specific and community-based organizations, community action agencies, disaster case managers, and/or other organizations to share HOP program information with individuals and communities with limited English language proficiency, members of protected classes, vulnerable populations, and individuals from underserved communities. The state will work with these organizations to ensure that program materials are accessible and understandable to all applicants and that program intake and application processes are accommodating and provided in a way that accounts for culturally specific needs. The state may engage these same types of organizations to help with application intake and provide support through the application process. This will provide applicants with options for obtaining support from a trusted support network, which is intended to address potential accessibility challenges for impacted residents who have not yet participated in state or federal recovery programs.

Program Eligibility

Geographic Eligibility: Clackamas, Douglas, Jackson, Klamath, Lane, Lincoln, Linn, and Marion counties

Eligible Applicants: To be eligible for the program, applicants must meet the following criteria:

• Have a household income at or below 120% of the area median income, adjusted for household size. (This is the maximum allowable under HUD rules.) (Source: HUD - https://www.huduser.gov/portal/datasets/il.html#year2023)
• Have experienced a verified residential loss as a result of the 2020 wildfires.
• Be a first-time homebuyer. A first-time homebuyer is an individual who meets any of the following criteria:
• An individual who has had no ownership in a principal residence during the three-year period ending on the date of purchase of the property.
• A single parent who owned a home with a former spouse while married but has not owned a home otherwise.
• Agree to the affordability terms, which includes maintaining the property as an owner-occupant for a defined period (homebuyer affordability period) event.
• Be able to afford the cost of maintaining a home. It’s not a requirement for applicants to qualify for a first mortgage or other credit to access the program.

This program is still under development. To stay up to date on HOP, subscribe for program updates.

Intermediate Housing Assistance (IHA)

This program will provide rent assistance to eligible residents located in the 2020 fire-impacted counties who lack the necessary resources or support networks to obtain affordable rental housing or need alternative housing until there are permanent housing solutions.