Oregon Housing Preservation Project

Between 2007 and 2024, NOAH coordinated the Oregon Housing Preservation Project (OHPP), a statewide collaboration of public and private stakeholders dedicated to preserving Oregon’s publicly supported housing. Parters included Oregon Housing and Community Services Department (OHCS), the City of Portland (PHB), NOAH, developers and key policy leaders in the provate sector. The work was made possible through a series of grants and Program Related Investments from Meyer Memorial Trust, the Collins Foundation, the Oregon Community Foundation, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, and other regional and national foundations.

Between 2007 and 2024, OHPP partners collaborated to preserve 408 properties with 20,400 affordable homes, including over 13,000 with long-term federal subsidy contracts valued at $1.8 billion. The work to preserve properties with federal rental assistance and long-term rent restrictions, as well as manufactured dwelling communities, has been institutionalized through legislation, $320 million in dedicated state funding by the legislature, and the creation of multiple preservation-focused positions at OHCS.

Investments through our supporting foundations and our public partners, continue to provide low cost, risk tolerant lending capital for NOAH’s Oregon Housing Acquisition Fund, which to date has provided 45 loans helping to preserve or create 2,766 affordable homes.

The potential loss of Oregon’s affordable housing stock remains urgent and requires a coordinated response between state and federal housing agencies, legislators, policy makers and advocates. In August of 2024, NOAH completed our work facilitating the Oregon Housing Preservation Project and passed the preservation policy leadership role to Oregon Housing and Community Services, the Oregon Housing Alliance and Housing Oregon.

See below for a short history of the Oregon Housing Preservation Project.