State Legislature Approves $5 Million for Preservation

On the final day of the 2011 legislative session, both the Oregon House and Senate passed a lottery-backed bond bill, HB 5036, with bonding authority to provide an additional $5 million for multifamily rental housing preservation in 2012. Earlier in June, the legislature approved the Oregon Housing and Community Service (OHCS) budget for 2012 that included $10.5 million for preservation to come from lottery-backed bond sales. However, in the last weeks of the session, opposition surfaced to approving bonding authority for that full amount in HB 5036, threatening to scale it back or eliminate it completely. Fortunately, advocates were able to convince lawmakers of the need to continue funding for preservation, with $5 million in new authority ultimately remaining in the bill. When the legislature reconvenes for a short session next February, advocates plan to restate the case for additional funding. Click here for HB 5036.

Just like previous dedicated preservation funds and the current 50% set-aside of all other CFC-distributed resources, the new funds will only be available for preservation of existing multifamily rental properties with federal rental assistance subsidies attached to a minimum of 25% of units.

— Posted on 7/01/2011