Funding resource allocation strategies in ORCA
1.
Local Innovation and Fast Track (LIFT) Article XI-Q Bonds: OHCS received legislative investment of $450 million to support Affordable Rental Housing pipeline development. In 2025, $339,442,498 of those funds will support general development while the remaining funds will support dedicated uses.
-
2025 General Development Funds are allocated to ORCA using the Housing Stability Council adopted framework for set-asides and geographic regions with associated initial preference for tax credit leverage as specified:
-
Culturally specific organization set-aside: 20% of funding available is set aside for culturally specific organizations.
-
Regions: 80% of funding available is set aside for rural, suburban, and small city, non-metro urban, and metro geographic areas.
-
Rural: 14% (Census tracts outside of the metro counties that are designated rural)
-
Suburban and Small City: 16% (Census tracts outside of metro counties that are designated suburban/small city); half of the resources will have an initial preference for tax credit leverage
-
Non-Metro Urban: 28% (Census tracts outside of the metro counties that are designated urban); sixty percent of the resources will have an initial preference for tax credit leverage
-
Metro: 41% (Multnomah, Clackamas, Washington counties); 75% of the resources will have an initial preference for tax credit leverage
-
Resources not offered in 2025 are held back for dedicated uses; as demand for the resources held back are understood and used, any remaining resources will be added to support general development. Those dedicated resource hold back uses include:
-
HB 3145 Local Innovation Fast Track (LIFT) Modular Housing: HB 3145 directs this set-aside to be used to acquire or construct factory-produced housing for low-income households. This work will occur over the coming year as the statutory implementation establishes an advisory committee who will provide recommendations to OHCS related to the approach to project selection.
-
9% Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC): In 2025 OHCS adopted updates to LIFT to allow up to $3 million in LIFT funds to be paired with 9% LIHTC projects. Where gap financing had previously been incredibly limited, this was an intentional strategy to maximize impact of the 9% credit in a resource constrained environment. Given federal updates to the program allocations, OHCS is holding back sufficient resources to allow these funds to support that expansion for the projects currently in ORCA as well as to allow the same level of resource offerings for the next two years.
2.
Permanent Supportive Housing (PSH) Article XI-Q Bonds: These resources are dedicated to supporting project investments that create PSH units for chronically homeless households through development teams that have previously completed the Oregon Supportive Housing Institute. In allocating the resources the following are the dedicated uses:
-
2025 general PSH development funds are allocated to ORCA using the Housing Stability Council adopted framework for set-asides and geographic regions:
-
Culturally specific organization set-aside: 20% of funding available is set aside for culturally specific organizations.
- Regions: 80% of funding available is set aside for rural, suburban, and small city, non-metro urban, and metro geographic areas.
-
Rural: 14% (Census tracts outside of the metro counties that are designated rural)
-
Suburban and Small City: 16% (Census tracts outside of metro counties that are designated suburban/small city)
-
Non-Metro Urban: 28% (Census tracts outside of the metro counties that are designated urban)
-
Metro: 41% (Multnomah, Clackamas, Washington counties)
-
Dedicated funds for Supportive Housing Institute Projects.
- Oregon provides an annual Oregon Supportive Housing Institute training and technical assistance program in partnership with the Corporation for Supportive Housing (CSH). In this training, cohorts of project owners, property managers and service providers work to develop project plans while building critical knowledge and skillset to ensure best implementation. While funding for those projects are not committed in advance, OHCS holds $40 million to support project concepts that come out of the Supportive Housing Institute efforts.
- Participation in the institute is offered annually through CSH and includes criteria for addressing community need as well as ensures priority for including rural and tribal representation along with culturally specific organizations within each annual cohort. More information about this program can be found on
OHCS’s PSH webpage.
-
PSH subsidy can only be requested for the costs attributed to the development of PSH units.
- Subsidy requests for PSH program resources are not capped at specific dollar amounts or maximums, but will be evaluated against established 30% Area Median Income (AMI) subsidy limits found in the ORCA manual:
- Where subsidy requests are within 25% over the established limits for general production, OHCS would generally consider that as reasonable with traditional cost documentation and justification
- Where subsidy requests are greater than 25% higher, OHCS will need to have demonstration of justification, including how the development team has worked to drive down total project costs and lessen the need for state subsidy
- Any approval of subsidies higher than 25% will need to have the justification accepted by OHCS through an internal leadership review.
-
Resources not offered in 2025 are held back for dedicated uses (such as to be paired with upcoming 9% LIHTC offerings). As demand for the resources held back are understood, any remaining resources will be added to support general PSH development.
3.
9% LIHTC:
-
Project selection for 9% LIHTC occurs annually through an evaluation detailed in
Oregon’s Qualified Allocation Plan (QAP). 2025 project selection has occurred, and the next offering is anticipated for early 2026.
- The resource allocates credits to the following uses which are further detailed in the QAP:
- Preservation: 25% of the annual credit ceiling is reserved for preservation projects.
- Tribal: 10% of the annual credit ceiling is reserved for developments that serve Native Nations on tribal trust land.
- ORCA Set-asides and Regions: 65% of the credits are allocated based on the culturally specific organization and geographic set-asides adopted by the Housing Stability Council. See description in the Geographic Set-Asides Allocation Description section.
-
Any unused credits within any of these set-asides, after funding as many projects as possible within a set-aside, may be reallocated to fully fund another project within any set aside at OHCS’ discretion.
- Project Limits:
- 9% LIHTC Credits: Applicant or ultimate project owner (“Sponsor”) may not receive more than $2 million of any annual state 9% LIHTC allocation.
- Applicants may not receive more than an average of 15% of the annual 9% LIHTC allocation over any two (2) sequential years’ allocations.
-
Paired Gap: Below are the caps on paired resources:
- General development applicants can request up to $3 million in development gap funds identified as available.
- Preservation development applicants may request paired subsidy based on resource availability, currently to be determined.
- Permanent Supportive Housing project gap financing will follow PSH program subsidy as detailed above in the PSH section of this document.
- For PSH gap funding requests, see Permanent Supportive Housing funding guidelines as outlined above.
4. 4% LIHTC and Private Activity Bonds (PAB):
-
The allocation of 4% LIHTCs is described in
Oregon’s Qualified Allocation Plan where the following uses are detailed:
- ORCA allocations to projects that meet program requirements on a first-come, first-reviewed basis. This resource is limited by the availability of gap financing and PAB.
- PAB holdbacks are utilized to support Housing Authority Owned property investments that do not require other state investments, as detailed in the QAP.
5.
General Housing Account Program (GHAP): The resources collected through the Document Recording fee for affordable rental housing are invested as GHAP. OHCS has worked to forward obligate document collections to ensure greatest use of the funds. GHAP has the following uses:
-
Veterans: by statute, 25% of the revenues received into GHAP are set-aside for veterans projects.
- Capacity: 10% of the remaining funds collected in the document recording fee are used to support capacity investments, which are now prioritized through the ORCA to support grants directly to owners, operators, and communities engaging in building capacity for development and operations of affordable rental housing.
- Development: Funds are allocated based on availability and no resources are available at this time.
6.
Housing Development Grant Program (HDGP): This resource is generated through public purpose charges.
-
This resource is currently prioritized for Native Nations projects in the ORCA.
7.
Home Investment Partnership Program (HOME):
-
This resource is determined based on federal allocations and governed through the states adopted Consolidated Plan. State resources are used to invest federal development funds in communities and counties that do not have their own direct allocation of HOME funding from HUD. In Oregon, the current HUD HOME Participating Jurisdictions (PJs) are:
- City of Salem
- Eugene/Springfield
- Clackamas County
- Marion County
- Multnomah County
- Washington County
-
These resources are made available to projects that are in the OHCS HOME program area (OHCS HOME Balance of State) and prioritized for organizations with capacity and expertise using federal resources.
8.
Oregon Affordable Housing Tax Credits (OAHTC):
-
This lender tax credit resource is used in both affordable rental housing and in homeownership development for limited equity homeownership cooperatives. This resource is not fully subscribed so it is allocated to projects that meet program requirements on a first-come, first-reviewed basis.
9.
Land Acquisition Revolving Loan Program (LAP):
-
This resource has dedicated statutory use for both the land acquisition of homeownership and rental housing prospective development. Where resources are available, eligible projects may submit applications and are reviewed in the order submitted.
10.
Predevelopment Funding:
-
These resources have defined eligible entities for both project feasibility and predevelopment financing which are detailed in the program manual. Funds are not allocated or set-aside further but are prioritized in ORCA based on a first-come, first-reviewed basis.
11. Property Stabilization Investments (PSI):
-
These resources help address urgent threats to the financial viability of properties in the OHCS portfolio. In allocating the resources the following are the dedicated uses:
- CSOs: $5 million is set-aside for culturally specific organizations.
- Nonprofits: $20 million is set-aside for non-profit organizations.
- After six months, resources will be pooled and generally available to any property currently in the OHCS inventory that meets PSI funding requirements.
ORCA adopted set-aside and regional allocation
For resources that use the ORCA’s geographic set-asides:
- CSO set-aside: 20% of funding available is set aside for culturally specific organizations.
- Regional Set-Asides: 80% of funding available is set aside for rural, suburban, and small city, non-metro urban, and metro geographic areas.
- Rural: 14% (Census tracts outside of the metro counties that are designated rural)
- Suburban and Small City: 16% (Census tracts outside of metro counties that are designated suburban/small city)
- Non-Metro Urban: 28% (Census tracts outside of the metro counties that are designated urban)
- Metro: 41% (Multnomah, Clackamas, Washington counties).
OHCS reserves the right to adjust or hold back 10% of the resources for flexibility within each region, allowing for potential project adjustments, full funding of projects, or other unanticipated needs as required.
The OHCS Geographic Designation Map is a helpful tool that allows sponsors to determine which category to select when completing an application. Please note that you will need to search for specific addresses, as parts of the same city/town may include different designations due to population density.
Set-aside resource pooling
Funding set-asides within regions will be pooled where feasible to support funding additional project(s) within that region. Resources may be pooled across geographic regions when the funds remaining in the regions are insufficient to fund the next project(s). Pooled funds will be used to support waitlisted projects or other development strategies that prioritize readiness. The selection process for waitlisted projects will follow the ORCA Waitlist Policy found in
the ORCA Manual.
If the pooled resources are insufficient to fund the top projects on the waitlist, OHCS will have discretion to support other waitlist projects that meet readiness standards as determined by OHCS.
ORCA set-asides will be pooled six (6) months prior to the end of each legislative biennium, unless otherwise indicated.