Message from Traci: With a funding lift, our housing partners are reaching higher.
Dear friends,
Can you remember a time when there were more projects moving through Oregon’s affordable housing development pipeline than there are today? Hard-fought funding wins, at state and local levels, are fueling a surge in development activity across the state. In this historically strong funding environment, Oregon’s housing providers are taking bold action to expand housing access—and to grow as housing developers and owners. HDC is proud to support our partners to do both.
With Nueva Esperanza, in Hillsboro, Bienestar is undertaking its largest and most complex development to date: a 150-unit, 13-building housing community designed to meet the needs of Latinx farmworkers and Somali immigrant families. The project is also a first for HDC: our first joint-venture development, and the test-run of our new pilot program that aims to support housing organizations serving culturally specific communities to achieve hard-to-reach housing goals. (Learn more about how HDC and Bienestar are partnering to achieve organizational firsts.)
Two other HDC partners are raising different bars. Farmworker Housing Development Corporation is forming new community partnerships, and widening its geographic reach, to address the housing needs of working families in underserved rural communities, with developments such as Colonia Paz II in Lebanon. And Catholic Charities is developing Good Shepherd Village, Happy Valley’s first-ever regulated affordable housing development, which will provide 143 homes for working families and people who have experienced houselessness. HDC is providing finance and construction project management services to both teams.
Building bigger, expanding service boundaries, forming new partnerships. These are just some of the ways Oregon’s housing leaders—our clients—are reaching for more-ambitious housing goals in a growth market. Other ways they’re aiming higher: prioritizing housing justice, investing in internal housing development capacity, and strengthening their organizations with best practices in asset management. (Don’t miss HDC Director of Asset Management Kimberly Taylor’s recent post on the three parts every asset management plan should have.)
In this opportunity-rich environment, HDC’s uniquely holistic approach to affordable housing consulting is more needed and valuable than ever. Because HDC offers development, lending, asset management, and industry-support services under one roof, we can give our partners the flexible, comprehensive support they need to reach for their multidimensional goals. I feel privileged to be part of Oregon’s affordable housing community—and to be working with and learning from HDC’s amazing partners—in this exciting moment. It’s a great time to be expanding affordable housing access in Oregon. It’s a great time to be reaching higher with you.
Warm regards,