Lincoln County has received $2 million to speed recovery in areas impacted by the September 2020 wildfires with a focus on affordable housing for low- and medium-income survivors.
An agreement with Oregon Housing and Community Services was on Lincoln County commissioners’ consent agenda Dec. 14, allocating money from more than $150 million authorized by the 2021 Oregon Legislature.
House Bill 5006 made two authorizations for housing-related wildfire recovery in eight Oregon counties — $100 million for housing development, construction, infrastructure, rebuilding, down-payment assistance, and loans and services; and a maximum of $50.8 million from fees and other revenue for operations, land acquisition and interim housing.
More than 4,300 homes were damaged or destroyed in the 2020 Labor Day fires, including more than 300 lost to the Echo Mountain complex in north Lincoln County.
Lincoln County’s agreement with OHCS allows four broad uses of the funds: land acquisition, home construction or purchase, infrastructure and grant administration.
The county can acquire real estate for private housing development and require a covenant that the property be used for affordable housing, available to those with up to 120 percent of the media area income, for at least half of renters or purchasers.
The county can also offer grants to low- and moderate-income wildfire survivors to purchase or build homes and pay infrastructure costs for properties temporarily or permanently occupied by wildfire survivors.
The agreement states the county can spend no more than 7.5 percent of the funds on internal staffing or general administration.
