Source: Oregon.gov
In November 2021, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) announced it was awarding Oregon $422 million in Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery (CDBG-DR) funds for recovery efforts in response to the 2020 Labor Day Fires. Administered by Oregon Housing and Community Services, this money will pay for new programs to help individuals, households, and communities continue to recover. This effort, which is called “ReOregon,” will provide new permanent housing in the areas most impacted by the fires.
Assistance available now for wildfire recovery
Oregon Housing and Community Services submitted an Action Plan for ReOregon to HUD on June 8. The Action Plan describes how the state will spend the $422 million of federal funding to support recovery from the 2020 Labor Day Fires in Clackamas, Douglas, Jackson, Klamath, Lane, Lincoln, Linn, and Marion counties. The goal of the program is that all fire-impacted individuals and households have equitable access to the resources necessary to be housed safely, sustainably, permanently, affordably and in their housing of choice.
- CDBG-DR ACTION PLAN.pdf
- A Spanish translation of this plan will be posted as soon as it is available
The plan was drafted with an explicit concern for—and implementation will be guided by—the particular needs of the many members of the Latino/a/x community of Jackson County who have suffered many of the greatest impacts of this disaster and face particular hurdles in recovery. There are no citizenship or residency requirements and OHCS will seek opportunities to partner with (and fund) culturally specific, community-based organizations to support survivors through application and recovery processes.
The core elements of the plan, which were refined through extensive public engagement in fire-impacted areas in May 2022, are:
- A housing replacement program for homeowners who lost homes to the fires.
- A new homeownership program for fire survivors who were renters and displaced by the fires.
- A fund to support local priority projects to build new infrastructure, carry out mitigation activities to prepare for future disasters, or support economic revitalization.
The program factsheet is embeded below and much more information is available on their webpage here.