Preservation Development Resources

OHCS has several ways to help stabilize and preserve Oregon's existing affordable multifamily properties. Development resources can be used to acquire, rehabilitate or financially stabilize properties at risk of loss. This prevents affordable rental housing from converting to market rate housing, maintains stable rent levels, and ensures the health and safety of residents.

Preservation funding in 2025-2027

In the 2025 legislative session, $50 million was made available to stabilize and preserve affordable multifamily rental housing. The available funding for 2025-2027 is split between the following categories:

Property stabilization in cases of imminent risk of loss: $38 million

Property Stabilization Investments (PSI) help address urgent threats to the viability of properties in the OHCS portfolio that are facing significant financial distress, making them at risk of loss to the affordable housing portfolio in the 2025-27 biennium. These investments are designed to be a flexible tool of last resort, to be employed only when other resources and strategies have been exhausted. PSI funds are used to buy down and reamortize lender debt, and for repairs and deferred maintenance costs that may have arisen due to property cash flow challenges. Specific PSI financial eligibility criteria select for those properties that are most at risk of loss, but which can be preserved with up to $2 million targeted investment.

The PSI resource can be accessed through the Oregon Centralized Application Intake Form. Full details on how to access this funding on the PSI web page.

PSI Instruction Guide PSI FAQs

Preservation: $15 million

New 2025-2027 investments will be used to fund projects that are currently on the OHCS wait list and as a set-aside for Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) projects in 2026. Applicants who need preservation gap funding may continue to apply and will join a wait list until additional resources are available. Preservation is focused on the following kinds of risk to existing affordable housing:

Physical risk of loss: This funding helps rehabilitate affordable multifamily properties with significant capital needs that threaten their viability and impact vulnerable tenants. OHCS will also consider financial restructuring and recapitalization efforts to address operational issues that may threaten the loss of affordability. OHCS does not expect to fund acquisition costs in this category.

Properties with federal project-based rent assistance at risk of loss: This category is focused on the extension or renewal of federal project-based rent assistance (PBRA). It allows the purchase and/or rehabilitation of multifamily projects with at least 50% of units having federal PBRA.
Expiring Projects: This category is available to owners of properties that have affordability restrictions expiring soon, putting the units at risk of converting to market rate housing and displacing vulnerable tenants. Funds can support acquisition and/or rehabilitation.

Preservation Priorities and Criteria

OHCS has detailed the prioritization used to rate applications in each of the three preservation categories. See the 2025 OHCS Preservation Funding Overview.

Eligibility

Eligible applicants include:

Nonprofits
Private companies
Government organizations including public housing authorities and Native Nation housing agencies.

How to apply for funding

To apply for funding, applicants will need to submit an Oregon Centralized Application (ORCA) intake and complete required application elements in OHCS's online portal. Because demand for preservation resources exceeds available funding, applicants in 2025-2027 may expect to join a wait list until additional funding becomes available. A preservation gap funding set-aside will be available for 9% LIHTC in 2026.

Owners of eligible projects are encouraged to apply, even if they are unsure whether they will be funded this year. Part of the new approach to establishing preservation priorities is building a list of specific projects that illustrates the need for more funding, and supporting more informed agency planning with a more complete dataset. Note that preservation projects that do not need gap funding, such as those using 4% LIHTC and Private Activity Bonds, can apply at any time and are not subject to preservation priority criteria rating.