Renovations at Rose Schnitzer Tower preserve affordable housing while improving safety, accessibility, and quality of life for residents

SALEM, Ore. — Oregon Housing and Community Services (OHCS) joined Guardian Real Estate Services, Robinson Jewish Home, and other community partners earlier this month to celebrate the grand reopening of Rose Schnitzer Tower, marking a major investment in preserving 233 affordable homes for adults in downtown Portland. 

Rose Schnitzer Tower provides 233 one-bedroom apartments for older adults earning at or below 60% of the area median income. Preserving these homes will ensure affordability while delivering essential improvements that enhance residents’ safety, comfort, and quality of life.

“Day by day, community by community, we are working to build a more affordable future for Oregonians,” said OHCS Executive Director Andrea Bell. “This progress means long term affordability and a home that delivers the dignity Oregonians deserve.”

OHCS supported the preservation project with $21.2 million in Low-Income Housing Tax Credits and $38 million in conduit bonds. These investments helped finance extensive renovations to the building’s interior and exterior, including upgrades to improve safety, accessibility, and energy efficiency.

Improvements include modernized bathrooms, upgraded heating and cooling systems, new hot water boilers, and other essential building enhancements designed to extend the property’s lifespan and provide a more comfortable living environment for residents.

About Oregon Housing and Community Services (OHCS)

OHCS is Oregon's housing finance agency. The state agency provides financial and program support to create and preserve opportunities for quality, affordable housing for Oregonians with low and moderate incomes. OHCS administers programs that provide housing stabilization. OHCS delivers these programs primarily through grants, contracts, and loan agreements with local partners and community-based providers. For more information, please visit: oregon.gov/ohcs.

SALEM, Ore. — Oregon Housing and Community Services (OHCS) received a national Award for Program Excellence from the National Council of State Housing Agencies (NCSHA) for its work to preserve affordable rental housing and strengthen housing stability across Oregon.

The award was presented Oct. 5 during NCSHA’s 2026 Annual Conference in Detroit. OHCS was recognized in the Rental Housing category, Encouraging New Construction and Promoting Preservation, for “Strategies to Preserve Oregon’s Affordable Housing Portfolio.”

The recognition highlights the agency’s coordinated approach with partners to protect existing affordable homes through targeted financial investments.

“Day by day, community by community, we are working to build an Oregon that everyone can afford to call home,” said OHCS Executive Director Andrea Bell. “OHCS is grateful to our partners for helping us deliver on this commitment to the people of Oregon.”

Across Oregon, affordable housing properties face rising operating costs, aging buildings, and financial pressures that can threaten long-term affordability. An OHCS analysis of 748 properties with more than 47,000 homes found operating costs increased 20% between 2021 and 2023, while rental income only grew about 11%. To address these challenges, OHCS launched Property Stabilization Investments in October 2025. The program awarded $39 million to 30 projects, helping preserve more than 2,200 affordable rental homes. The funding came from a legislative investment in housing preservation approved in 2025.

Working with property owners and lenders, the program helps financially distressed properties reduce debt and lower monthly loan payments. These investments improve properties’ ability to cover operating costs and maintain affordable housing. This limited funding also supports addressing needed critical repairs that can return vacant homes to active use.

OHCS paired these investments with approximately $2 million in capacity-building grants to 13 partners across the state to strengthen property and asset management. The agency also reduced administrative burdens by providing more flexibility in waitlist management, implementing Housing Opportunity Through Modernization Act requirements to streamline verification processes across programs and allow additional verification methods, and simplifying income recertification requirements where permitted. These changes help housing providers focus resources on residents and property operations, and not red tape.

Together, these strategies help protect public investments in affordable housing and support long-term stability of the organizations that own and operate it.

About Oregon Housing and Community Services (OHCS)

OHCS is Oregon's housing finance agency. The state agency provides financial and program support to create and preserve opportunities for quality, affordable housing for Oregonians with low and moderate incomes. OHCS administers programs that provide housing stabilization. OHCS delivers these programs primarily through grants, contracts, and loan agreements with local partners and community-based providers. For more information, please visit: oregon.gov/ohcs.

Five-year review finds program created more than 1,100 supportive housing units, with 87% of households remaining in their home or moving to other permanent housing

SALEM, Ore. — A new five-year report from Oregon Housing and Community Services (OHCS) finds that the state’s Permanent Supportive Housing (PSH) program has substantially expanded supportive housing across Oregon while helping people who have experienced chronic homelessness remain stably housed.

The 2020-2025 Permanent Supportive Housing Program Outcomes Report found that between 2020 and 2025, the PSH Program awarded funding to 41 projects totaling 1,136 PSH units statewide. At the end of 2025, 27 of those projects, representing 763 homes, were open and operating, with the remaining projects under construction or moving toward construction.

“My kids and I were homeless and needed support,” said a resident of a PSH community in Eugene developed by Homes for Good. “We have been supported with quality items and with a system that helps us learn more about budgeting, and we have consistent support to help us meet obtainable goals with staff who never give up and always follow through with finding resources and even helping access them. I finally feel like my family has a support system that is consistent and that I can count on and learn from.”

PSH combines long-term affordable rental housing with services designed to help people who have experienced chronic homelessness maintain their housing. Depending on individual needs, those services can include case management, behavioral and physical health connections, peer support, employment assistance, and other resources.

“Communities across Oregon are delivering local solutions to make everyday life better and more affordable. Collectively, we are committed to realizing an Oregon where every person, regardless of income or background, can have an affordable and dignified place to call home,” said OHCS Executive Director Andrea Bell. 

Among the report’s findings:

River Bend Place in Ontario includes six PSH units sponsored by Northwest Housing Alternatives and is a testament to what can happen when a frontier community comes together to support its most vulnerable neighbors while making the most of the limited resources available in Eastern Oregon.

"River Bend Place is proof that supportive housing is only the beginning,” said Clayton Crowhurst, housing developer at Northwest Housing Alternatives. “When a community aligns around a shared vision, it can create an entire ecosystem of services to strengthen a city and a region."

Sequoia Crossings in Salem is an affordable rental housing development with PSH units that opened in January 2024.

“At Sequoia Crossings in Salem, we see every day that PSH is about much more than providing a place to live,” said Lucy Briseno of Mid-Willamette Valley Community Action Agency. “A stable home creates the foundation for people to focus on their health, connect with their community, and pursue their own goals.”

Cleveland Commons in Bend opened in 2025 as Central Oregon's first PSH multifamily community, with 33 homes for people who have experienced chronic homelessness. 

"Cleveland Commons in Bend has ended homelessness for some of our most medically-vulnerable neighbors,” said Fuse Housing Collaborative Executive Director Colleen Sinsky. “Roughly half of our residents went from living outside to having health care and wraparound support available right down the hall. Cleveland Commons exists because of dedicated local partners and long-term investment from OHCS and the Oregon Legislature, and it is part of how Central Oregon reduced homelessness by 19% this year. We are eager to keep building on this success together." 
 

The full 2020-2025 Permanent Supportive Housing Program Outcomes Report is available on the OHCS website.