Oregon Housing and Community Services Selects Five Projects to Build 117 Homes Through the Factory-Produced Housing Initiative

Oregon Housing and Community Services (OHCS) selected five projects through the Factory-Produced Housing Initiative to support the construction of 117 affordable rental and for-sale homes for Oregonians throughout the state.

The initiative, created out of House Bill 3145 in the 2025 Legislative Session, seeks to spur awareness and adoption of factory-produced housing across Oregon and will fund up to five factory-produced housing (FPH) projects with Local Innovation and Fast Track (LIFT) set-aside funds for a total of $25 million. Factory-produced housing, such as modular homes, is an alternative to traditional site-built construction, with the potential to produce homes more quickly and at a lower cost.

AGE+ is one of the organizations, along with Blazer Modular Construction that was selected and plans to use the funding to build 40 fully accessible, affordable homes for older adults in Phoenix, Ore., replacing housing lost in the Almeda Fire. The project, Phoenix Commons, will be built using modular housing construction, reducing per-unit costs and cutting the construction schedule by several months.

"This project represents more than new housing," said Stephanie Hooper, president and CEO of AGE+. "It creates a model for how communities can respond to the needs of an aging population and demonstrates that innovative housing solutions can be delivered quickly while preserving affordability, accessibility, and community connection."

Over the past three years, AGE+ and Blazer Modular Construction have collaborated to refine and standardize an age-friendly design, which is now ready for replication.

"We are proud to partner with AGE+ to deliver high-quality, accessible homes at a fraction of the traditional construction timeline," said Kendra Cox, business development manager at Blazer Modular Construction. "The Phoenix Commons project proves that factory-produced housing is a highly viable, cost-effective solution to Oregon's urgent housing needs."

Illahee Timber Townhomes is a 27 home, permanently affordable, for-sale housing development in Gresham that is being built by Hacienda CDC and CedarStone Build & Design. All homes are built off-site using Cross Laminated Timber (CLT) panels produced at CedarStone's facility in Eugene. These panels form the walls, floors, and roofs, making the homes stronger, more airtight, and faster to assemble than conventional construction. This approach allows a three-person crew to build an entire home in just two to three days.

"Oregon's housing shortage requires us to rethink not only where we build homes, but how we build them," said Ernesto Fonseca, CEO of Hacienda CDC. "This investment recognizes the potential of factory-produced housing to deliver high-quality, permanently affordable homes more efficiently and at greater scale. Through our Mass Casitas program and collaboration with OHCS and CedarStone Build & Design, Hacienda CDC is helping demonstrate how mass timber and factory-produced housing can accelerate the delivery of affordable homeownership opportunities."

The FPH LIFT applicant pool was highly competitive, with more than 32 applications received across the state and over $165 million in funds requested. Applicants must still go through the traditional Homeownership Development Notice of Funding Availability (NOFA) or Oregon Centralized Application (ORCA) processes before the awards are finalized. Because there were more eligible projects than the set-aside could support, a list of high-scoring alternate projects will be held until Sept. 1, 2026, in case a selected project does not pass. 

"Housing makes so many things possible," OHCS Executive Director Andrea Bell said. "We are very much living in a time when innovation is shaping and reshaping how we how we meet the everyday needs of Oregonians. Innovation in its richest form should be helping to address the concerns of everyday people, and local leaders are helping us deliver on that promise."

These factory-built projects are still in the early stages of the funding process and were selected for potential access to the Local Innovation and Fast Track (LIFT) set-aside. In addition to more information about the Factory-Produced Housing Initiative, a list of the projects that were selected, are alternates, or not selected can be found on the OHCS website.