REDMOND, Ore. — NeighborImpact recently completed its final weatherization project utilizing American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. This special grant provided an additional $2.8 million over three years to expand NeighborImpact’s Weatherization Program for low-income home weatherization and improvements.

Over the three years, NeighborImpact completed a total of 428 units utilizing ARRA funds: 304 homes were weatherized, 84 units received solar panels and 40 units received ductless heat pump units.

Financial support for this project came from Oregon Housing and Community Services and originated from a US Department of Energy (DOE) grant through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. There were more than 7,500 completions statewide as of press date. In the most recent quarter reported (January-March 2012), the ARRA Weatherization Assistance Program was 1st out of approximately 200 ARRA federal programs in the number of direct jobs created or retained (as reported at www.recovery.gov).

“The ARRA stimulus funding made a positive contribution to both the lives of low-income households and the Central Oregon economy. It infused our region when the economy was down, gave contractors job, made homes healthier and safer and reduced energy bills,” commented Laura Fritz, Housing Director at NeighborImpact.

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Woodburn Independent Editorial Staff, February 15, 2012

Woodburn’s Farmworker Housing Development Corporation (FHDC) is preparing to expand its “Nuevo Amanecer” housing complex significantly, and the Woodburn area will see important benefits as a result.

This June, the non-profit organization plans to break ground on an additional 40 housing units to add to the existing 90 apartments now in place along North Fifth Street in Woodburn. FHDC is not only meeting a vital need within the community, but is also offering many people an even greater gift: hope.

FHDC was created in the early 1990s with the mission of developing affordable housing for farmworkers and their families. In 1994, the first 50 residential units opened, and 50 families immediately stepped into an improved quality of life.

Currently, FHDC is providing 90 local farmworking families with affordable housing in a residential complex that is clean, quiet, attractively landscaped, well maintained and well managed. This program is so successful and so popular that about 300 families are on a waiting list to move in. That’s right: The demand for housing at Nuevo Amanecer is so acute that even with the additional 40 units expected to be ready for occupancy in early 2013, there will still be more than 250 families that would like to move there.

Click here to read the rest of the story.

“Auction helps local group provide affordable housing,” Statesman Journal, May 7, 2012

Leona Guthrie daintily held a clear plastic cup filled with water as she stretched out on a wooden Adirondack-style chair.

She sank into the chair, an easy smile surfacing on her face.

“It’s incredibly comfortable,” she said.

The visual matched the relaxed vibe of Sunday’s Theatre Night and Auction, benefiting the Salem-Keizer Community Development Corp. at Pentacle Theatre.

Click here to read more.

[Or in case you, like me, have not paid for a DJC subscription so can only read half of their *%$@ stories, here is Innovative Housing, Inc.'s interesting write up on the Eliot:]

Site Control- The first step of project development is typically securing site control. IHI began negotiating the acquisition of this parcel in the summer of 2010. The then-owner rejected IHI’s purchase offer and later lost the property to foreclosure. After the property reverted to the lender, IHI renewed its offer and entered into a purchase and sale agreement, contingent on IHI’s due diligence and satisfaction with the property. This agreement also included time for IHI to apply to the Portland Housing Bureau for development funds. Since we secured City funding, IHI’s purchase offer has “gone hard,” meaning that our earnest money deposit is now non-refundable and we have removed our conditions to closing. And now that the project is fully funded, thanks to a very generous award of grants and Low Income Housing Tax Credits from the State, we plan to close on acquisition in the Fall and move full steam ahead on the project!

Funding – Affordable housing development involves piecing together many different funding sources. IHI applied to the Portland Housing Bureau for $975,000 in January 2011 and was awarded funding in February 2011. This first commitment of funds is critical, not only to get the ball rolling but also to show local support for the project. With the City on board, IHI was able to apply for additional funds from the State. We submitted this funding application to Oregon’s Housing and Community Services Department in April 2011, requesting an allocation of federal Low Income Housing Tax Credits along with several other state grant sources. On July 22, 2011 we received the thrilling news that the State awarded us nearly $8 Million in grants and tax credits to fully fund the project! The next step will be selecting the tax credit investor to acquire our tax credits and become IHI’s equity partner in the deal.

Design – IHI is working with Carleton Hart Architecture to design a beautiful new building that will blend into the neighborhood and also energize a vacant stretch of streetscape on Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard. Now that the project is fully funded, the design process is in high gear, as we will need final drawings and specifications to apply for permits this fall. The design team is meeting frequently to solidify our programming goals, tour other IHI properties, and discuss building systems. We have an Eco Charrette scheduled for August to explore all the green elements that can be incorporated and help decide what will result in the greatest impact for the project. We will continue working with neighbors to incorporate their feedback on the building’s design. We have already made one change requested by the Eliot Neighborhood Association Land Use Committee – the building steps down one story as it moves away from MLK, to lower its height as we get closer to the existing residential neighborhood. We will continue to post DRAFT renderings on IHI’s website throughout this process as the design evolves.

Construction – IHI involves its contractors early in the development process to tell us how much it will cost to build what is being designed, and also to suggest design changes that will result in a better structure and save money. IHI is working with Walsh Construction Co. and Faison Construction as our general contractors. They will continue to provide cost estimates throughout the design phase and will then take the lead on building the project and coordinating subcontractors during construction. With all funding in place, IHI plans to break ground and begin construction in the summer of 2012.

We will update our progress periodically – thank you for your interest in our work!

“Federal grants target homeless vets: Clackamas County Housing Authority receives funding for the first time,” By Raymond Rendleman, The Clackamas Review, Mar 27, 2012

The federal bureau of Housing and Urban Development awarded $373,592 to the Housing Authority of Portland [Home Forward] and $178,708 to the Housing Authority of Clackamas County County on Tuesday.

While the Housing Authority of Portland previously has received HUD rental vouchers targeted to assist homeless vets, March 27 marks the first time that the Clackamas County’s Housing Authority has received them.

HUD and Veterans Affairs will provide HUD rental vouchers and VA case management to 610 more homeless veterans this year – 50 in Alaska, 50 in Idaho, 185 in Oregon and 325 in Washington state.

Click here to read more.

Residents try to calm once troubled area so families will thrive

By Jennifer Anderson, The Portland Tribune, Apr 5, 2012

>Rashaun Gavros, 11, (left) and Abdi Mas, 17, have grown up playing basketball and experiencing the good and the bad associated with the New Columbia neighborhood. CHRISTOPHER ONSTOTT / TRIBUNE PHOTO

Two vacant blocks of land at the heart of New Columbia in North Portland are not much more than soggy patches of grass.

That soon could change.

Plans are on the drawing board to use some of the vacant space for a bicycle hub for the 2,500 residents who call New Columbia home, half of whom are under 18. It would include a pump bike track for kids and a bike repair shop, where residents would be taught how to fix their own bikes.

Click here to read more.

from Enterprise Community Partners 4/25/12 enewsletter

Earth Week is a perfect opportunity to reflect and celebrate our collective achievements in developing and preserving high-quality affordable housing that is smartly located, resource efficient, healthy for residents and environmentally responsible.

Enterprise Green Communities is profiling the accomplishments of six organizations that received grants one year ago to support resident-led efforts to engage in green living:

• Abode Communities, California
• Aeon, Minnesota
• Eden Housing, California
• Farmworker Housing Development Corporation, Oregon (resident event pictured below)
• Foundation Communities, Texas
• SelfHelp, New York

Check out the latest section of our website, Resident Engagement in Practice, which showcases the lessons learned, best practices and customized educational tools that grew out of each of these organization’s year-long resident engagement programs. View and explore their strategies to promote health and green living practices.

We commend the extraordinary work of our community partners to empower residents to engage in behavior that reduces their impact on the environment and extends the green and healthy building features of their homes into their lives.

“Service groups press county for money: Nonprofits want $1.5 million more against local domestic abuse,” By Raymond Rendleman,The Clackamas Review, Mar 27, 2012

A coalition of 28 nonprofit and civic leaders last week asked the Board of County Commissioners to spend $1.5 million more of Clackamas County funding next year on programs serving child victims of abuse and violence.

The Red Ribbon Council packed a March 20 hearing with many people who had experienced abuse to lobby commissioners for the funding.

“The voter sentiment that these are very high priority issues and that these should be prioritized within the current county budget,” said Martha McLennan, executive director of Northwest Housing Alternatives.

Click here to read more.

from Public News Service-OR, April 20, 2012

When one in five Oregonians is enrolled in the program formerly known as food stamps, it’s big news when a congressional committee suggests sweeping cuts to the program. It happened this week in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Fifth District Rep. Kurt Schrader, D-Oregon, sits on the House Agriculture Committee, which voted this week to recommend cutting the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) by $36 billion in the next 10 years. That’s in line with the GOP budget mandates to reduce spending, although the committee cut even deeper than the $33 billion goal.

The panel also chose to cut only SNAP rather than trimming smaller amounts from other ag-related programs.

For the Oregon Food Bank Network, the vote amounts to “political showmanship,” according to Jeff Kleen, its public policy advocate.

“The budget resolution is a political statement. So, when shocking cuts like this are made, it really reflects a set of priorities. We’re very concerned when feeding hungry Americans is not a priority of the House Ag Committee.”

The Senate is not expected to accept the committee’s recommendation when it takes up the House budget proposal, Kleen says. The U.S. Department of Agriculture says Oregon has “significantly higher” participation in the SNAP program than do two-thirds of the states.

In addition to feeding the hungry, Kleen says, SNAP dollars circulate through the economy, spent at grocery stores and farmers markets. Thus, he says, the cuts would affect more than just the recipients.

“The program is bringing in more than $1 billion of federal funds. Those are funds that are coming into Oregon – I would hate to think where our economy would have been over the last year or two or three without that economic-stimulus impact of those dollars.”

The Oregon Food Bank Network already is meeting record demand for emergency food, and Kleen says charities would not be able to make up for the loss of so much federal nutrition assistance. The Ag Committee is one of six which the budget plan advanced by Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., required to propose cuts in order to prevent other cuts to defense spending.

Click here to view this story on the Public News Service RSS site and access an audio version of this and other stories: http://www.publicnewsservice.org/index.php?/content/article/26018-1

By Christian Gaston, The Forest Grove News-Times, “Library dreaming: Cornelius and Bienestar are developing a plan to build a $13.5 million mixed-use library project on the city’s main street,” Apr 25, 2012