Leaders Join Together to Tackle Oregon’s Affordable Housing Crisis
On October 4th, NOAH was pleased to partner with State Representative Pam Marsh (D-District 5) to host the Southern Oregon Manufactured Housing Conference in Ashland Oregon. Policy makers were joined by residents and advocates to understand the state of the manufactured housing industry and increase regional capacity.
Representative Marsh opened the conference saying: “Today’s Southern Oregon Manufactured Housing Conference is an opportunity for tenants, park owners, housing professionals and advocates to come together to understand the state of the industry. We’ll be looking for ways to increase our region’s capacity to support residents, to identify and adopt innovative approaches to park ownership and home upgrades, and to implement best practices for park management and dispute resolution.
What we know before we even start talking, is how important these parks are to our housing supply. With 104 manufactured home parks, Jackson County hosts about 10% of the state’s total inventory of 1,100 parks. Those numbers translate to thousands of homes for individuals and families across the state.
Quite honestly, we haven’t always appreciated the importance of our manufactured home parks. Because these parks are often tucked away in the corners of our communities they have frequently been overlooked or underestimated by planners. But the severe deficit of housing units across the state has shined new light on the contribution of parks. We now clearly understand what residents have known for a long time: Our manufactured home parks provide not only shelter, but also community and connection, often at a fraction of the price required in other kinds of neighborhoods”.
Increasingly, manufactured housing is being recognized as a critical source of affordable, unsubsidized housing that provides homes to tens of thousands of Oregon households and to more than 18 million across the nation. More than 150 people registered for the conference including several elected officials. Oregon Housing and Community Services Director Margaret Salazar was the luncheon keynote speaker, and Oregon Governor Kate Brown made a surprise appearance addressing conference attendees about the critical need for more of affordable housing in our state, and about the important role manufactured housing plays in providing affordable rental and homeownership options.
As Oregon faces skyrocketing home prices and rents, manufactured housing provides an important pathway for homeownership by low-income households and has remained affordable for many with lower incomes. Legislators and policy makers have recognized this by taking steps to promote manufactured housing including passing new laws to help preserve manufactured home parks at risk of closure. These new laws, combined with funding through Oregon Housing and Community Services (OHCS), have helped 3 Oregon non-profits preserve 21 communities since 2008, through sales to resident cooperatives and mission-focused non-profit housing organizations.
This source of housing is increasingly threatened by pressures from the private market, ranging from park closure and redevelopment, to owners seeking to achieve the greatest possible return on their investment by substantially increasing rents. We heard repeatedly during the conference about the many benefits provided by manufactured housing, including lower home costs, but perhaps most importantly, we heard how manufactured home parks offer residents a stable home and a strong sense of community. Download conference materials here.
NOAH Partners with Elevate Energy and New Ecology
Elevate Energy, New Ecology, Inc., and NOAH are partnering to help Oregon’s affordable multifamily housing community reduce operating costs through energy and water efficiency measures. As mission-driven organizations, Elevate Energy, New Ecology, Inc., and NOAH are committed to working with organizations seeking to create and preserve Oregon’s affordable multifamily housing stock with a focus on reducing energy use and improving the health, comfort, and resiliency of the homes. Elevate Energy has opened a Portland office and is stepping into the space MPower occupied previously and will be significantly expanding their offerings to make this work possible. For a limited time, Elevate is offering a suite of predevelopment products at no cost to help find ways to make a new construction or rehab project more efficient and cost-effective.
James Donnelly is Elevate’s Senior Project Manager for the Pacific Northwest and is located in their new Portland office. James is available to discuss possible projects and can be reached at (971)279-8453 or .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address). Click Elevate Energy to learn more.
Online Loan Information System Now Available!
NOAH is pleased to announce our new web-based loan servicing portal is available. Borrowers and property managers now have the opportunity to access current and previous billing statements, future escrow changes, loan balances, current breakdown of payment information and loan history.
To request access to the portal, please send an email to .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address), with the following information:
- Name of user
- Email address
- Loan name(s)
Once the request is received, the site information agreement will be sent and the user ID and temporary password will be created.
We are very excited to offer this tool that will provide more information on your loan at your fingertips. Please feel free to contact us if you would like additional information.
NOAH Receives National Award to Support Affordable Housing Efforts Across the State
NOAH is pleased to announce an award of $875,000 from the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Community Development Financial Institutions Fund (CDFI Fund). For FY 2018 CDFI Program round, the CDFI Fund awarded $165 million in financial and technical assistance to 264 organizations in 45 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico. The CDFI Program invests in and builds the capacity of CDFIs to serve low-income people and communities lacking adequate access to affordable financial products and services.
NOAH will use the award to increase the volume of its financing products and services throughout Oregon to aid affordable housing developers. Specifically, funds will be used to leverage higher cost bank capital and to attract other low-cost capital to be used for acquisition financing opportunities. Additionally, NOAH will increase its technical assistance offerings. These CDFI funds will enable NOAH to expand its offerings of low-cost, flexible loan products and enable developers to make strategic acquisitions as well as position themselves to access new housing subsidies from state and local governments. Oregon has an unprecedented amount of new public resources allocated to affordable housing, with two new potential bonds on the ballot this fall which could make possible funding to build, renovate and/or preserve homes for up to 12,000 people if both bonds pass. Full details can be found here.
New Bond Fund Available
NOAH is very excited to announce the launch of a new $30MM long-term tax-exempt bond fund. Thanks to investments from Banner Bank, Chase Bank, Columbia Bank, Key Bank, US Bank, and Wells Fargo, NOAH is now able to offer its customers another source of permanent lending. This new product will allow borrowers to work with NOAH on 4% tax credit transactions, including the use of Oregon Affordable Housing Tax Credits. We are thankful for the ability to continue to expand our work and impact in the development and preservation of affordable housing in Oregon. Please visit the financing section of our website for a term sheet with more detailed information.
NOAH Welcomes Cyndi Barber as Director of Finance and Administration
NOAH is pleased to announce the addition of Cyndi Barber as NOAH’s new Director of Finance and Administration. The Director of Finance and Administration position is new at NOAH, and is responsible for the oversight of finance, accounting, information technology and human resources. In this role, Cyndi is responsible for enhancing and developing financial systems to address current and future needs of the organization, monitoring business plan results, and assuring financial and reporting compliance to public, philanthropic and private partners. She will work closely with the Executive Director and Director of Lending to execute NOAH’s strategic plan and manage general operations.
Cyndi is a licensed CPA in the State of Oregon and holds a Human Resources certificate from Portland State University’s Professional Development Department. Previously she has worked in public accounting, and for both non-profit and for-profit organizations. Most recently, Cyndi spent her time in wine country as Chief Financial Officer at two vineyards. During her free time, she enjoys spending time with her husband, two adult children and her dog, as well as participating in half-marathons and volunteering at her church. Welcome Cyndi!