A lack of state low-income housing tax credit funds has stalled construction of the 84-unit Phoenix Corner project planned to help meet needs caused by the Almeda Fire, but the units will be built once the credits are available.

“We have just been on a holding pattern. We are hoping the tax credits will be available this summer,” said Greg Whiteley of Stewardship Development LLC of Eugene, a partner in the project.

Other projects are moving ahead or are completed and occupied. They include both manufactured home parks and apartments.

Pacific Flats, a 72-unit low-income project in Phoenix, was started last spring. It should be finished by this summer, said Danny DeFrancesco with Commonwealth Development Corporation, a partner. WNC & Associates is also a partner. The five buildings are located on 3.7 acres in the 400 block of South Pacific Highway.

Pacific Flats will have 42 two-bedroom units and 30 three-bedroom units, according to the initial announcement. They will be rented to families with a mix of income limits ranging from 30% to 60% of area median income. The site design includes parking, a playground and a community building that will house a business center, community room, exercise room and leasing office.

Phoenix Corner received a grant of $15.3 million, while Pacific Flats received a grant of $13.8 million in spring of 2023, both from Oregon Housing Stability Council. Special consideration was given to builders working with qualified culturally specific organizations. Both Phoenix projects meet that criterion.

Phoenix Corner will be located on 4 acres east of Interstate 5 on Grove Road close to Fern Valley Road, a mostly commercial area.

Stewardship Development and the Oregon Human Development Corporation are collaborating on Phoenix Corner. Pacific Flats partners are working with Medford-based Natives of One Wind Indigenous Alliance Unete.

Pacific Flats was able to obtain state tax credits. The program provides federal tax credits to developers for investments in affordable rental housing and is administered by Oregon Housing and Community Services

The credits are given to developers, and they sell them to equity investors who can use the credits over 10 years, Amanda Perkins with Stewardship Development explained. “We are somehow, someway, going to get the project going,” she said.

OHCS’s website states Oregon has already reached a funds cap, which is why the credits were not available in the 2024. There are usually more requests for credits than OHCS can fund, but they are anticipated to be available in 2025.

Phoenix Corner is benefiting from a $1.6-million state grant the city of Phoenix received for development of infrastructure to support affordable housing, Community Development Director Zac Moody said.

The grant will cover cost of a street installation that will also serve an area designated for future development by the city. It will also pay for a 2,100-foot sewer line that will connect Phoenix Corner to the waste water disposal system

Building permits for Phoenix Corner should be issued in the near future, Moody said.

Phoenix Corner will be built as originally planned, said Whiteley. That will include one two-story residential building and four three-story buildings. A single-story community building with leasing and resident services offices, a community room with a kitchen and laundry facilities will be located onsite.

All units will be rented to families making no more than 60% of area median income. There will be 24 one-bedroom, 32 two-bedroom and 32 three bedroom-units.

Occupancy of the Royal Oaks Manor manufactured home park just north of Phoenix should finally begin during June. The project, operated by the Housing of Authority of Jackson County, has had a long delay after manufactured homes for the 118-unit site produced in Idaho were declared unacceptable.

New units are being constructed in Klamath Falls from funds awarded to the housing authority by OHCS. The state agency had contacted with the Idaho company and paid $24 million for 140 units. The agency is suing the manufacture and others for $11.7 million.

“We will have units being delivered possibly in March, likely in April,” said Ryan Haynes, authority development director. They will need to be set on foundations using cranes.

Occupancy could begin as early as June 1 in the first 39-unit phase. ACCESS has started the selection process for residents. Preference will be given to survivors who had livened in the park before it burned.

AGE+ was awarded $3.18 million in state awards for a senior development in Talent. The 22 units are for people receiving 60% or less of area median income.

Completed in August, the development at 41 Suncrest Road saw people begin to move in during September. As of January, it was at full occupancy. A total of eight units are occupied by fire survivors, Age+ President and CEO Stephanie Hooper reported.

CASA of Oregon received $7.5 million for the Talent Mobile Estates project on Arnos Street. Most of the homes in the park burned during the Almeda Fire. At this point, 53 of 87 new homes are occupied. Some of the residents are Almeda Fire survivors.

“We have applications in the pipeline and are working to fill the spaces asap,” CASA Communication Manager Kelly Castagnaro wrote in response to email questions.

Another Commonwealth development, Renaissance Flats in Talent, opened in October 2023. The 72 units are targeted for low-income individuals and Almeda Fire survivors.