Federal Money Flowing to Oregon. A Lesson on Never Giving Up
The course of true housing for wildlife survivors, like Shakespeare’s take on love, never runs smooth. However, much like love in his marvelous play A Midsummer Night’s Dream, it appears to be getting there in the end. Forsooth (We’ll end Shakespeare now), Jackson County can expect to receive the majority of $323 million in federal recovery money coming to Oregon to aid housing restoration after the 2020 Labor Day fires, which included the Almeda and South Obenchain disasters. Great news for those still traumatized and suffering and this should hopefully prove worth the wait for those whose patience and forbearance and persistence are to a shining testament to not giving up.
This last January, the state of Oregon and the federal government signed an agreement that will allow spending $422 million in Community Development Block Grant Recovery dollars through the Oregon Housing and Community Services Department. “Although we are not making geographical sub allocation, we know that at least half of the need is down here, particularly among low- and medium-income residents,” relates Alex Campbell, OHCS chief external affair external affairs officer. Applications for the largest program, which has $204 million to help homeowners affected by the fire, will likely start being accepted in late spring, says Campbell.
Under recently Federal agreement, OHCS will work with local agencies to administer the programs as they already have connections with fire survivors, Campbell said. Among those might be ACCESS, the Housing Authority of Jackson County, the Jackson County Long-term Recovery group and others. Jackson County and local communities will also get $13.85 million for help with community planning, infrastructure and resilience. Some of those funds might be used to help with commercial revitalization. This is very important because as we know a town isn’t a town without new business and an emphasis on community as well as individual planning and support.
This new funding is a huge relief to those who survived the Almeda and South Obenchain fires that ripped through Southern Oregon Sept. 8, 2020. The Almeda Fire burned from Ashland through Talent and Phoenix to south Medford, destroying 2,500 homes and dozens of businesses. The South Obenchain Fire burned homes and outbuildings near Eagle Point, Butte Falls and Shady Cove. Based on an assessment, the 2020 wildfires severely damaged or destroyed more than 4,300 housing units across eight counties and burned more than 1.2 million acres across Oregon. Based on an unmet needs assessment, the state has calculated a total of nearly $1.9 billion in housing, infrastructure, economic revitalization and mitigation recovery needs.
The man platform, the Homeowner Assistance and Reconstruction Program, is for housing repair, reconstruction and replacement or homeowners who lost their primary residence. HARP will provide assistance to complete rebuilding, buy a new manufactured home or make homes safer. The first phase of this program will assist low- and moderate-income households only. Applications can be made online for the HARP program when it is available, said Campbell. “We will also have physical locations with internet access and in-person support for folks who need assistance.”
The agency will do a survey in the next couple weeks to determine who might be interested in providing services. That might include the Phoenix-Talent School District, Hispanic aid group Unite and others. If we can quote Shakespeare again (after all we are in Southern Oregon), let’s not make this Love’s Labor Lost. It’s up to all of us to get involved, let friends and relatives know about the acceleration of the program, and to give input to community needs. If you’re bilingual, help your neighbors.
It’s on all of us to make this generous program a dynamic success – it definitely has the potential.