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Agency Divisions

OHCS Agency Structure

Oregon Housing and Community Services provides resources for Oregonians to reduce poverty and increase access to stable housing. Our intentional focus on both housing and community services allows us to serve Oregonians holistically across the housing continuum, including preventing and ending homelessness, assisting with utilities, providing housing stability support, financing multifamily affordable housing and encouraging homeownership.

OHCS Organizational Chart

Division Descriptions

These are OHCS' current divisions and the programs they administer:

​The Executive Director’s Office provides the overall strategic leadership and vision for the Department.

The Deputy Director’s Office focuses on the ​execution of agency goals while providing leadership over program and central services directors.

​OHCS’ Affordable Rental Housing (ARH) is dedicated to creating and preserving quality, affordable rental housing for low- and moderate-income Oregonians. ARH offers financial resources, ensures long-term property performance, and maintains program compliance. The division supports a diverse range of affordable housing investments, including permanent supportive housing and HUD’s rent-assisted housing portfolio. 

As shown in the organizational chart, ARH is organized into three key sections:

  • Strategy and Operations
  • Development 
  • Portfolio

These sections work together to protect public investments and prioritize racial justice in affordable housing initiatives. To contact ARH, please email arh.hcs@hcs.oregon.gov.

Development

The Development section partners with affordable housing developers and manages resources through the Oregon Centralized Application (ORCA) process and other housing production tools. There are over 15 different development resources, each with specific requirements and priorities.  Key support includes:

  • Navigating ORCA and accessing loans, grants, and referrals
  • Building ongoing relationships with partners to support current and future projects

Technical Advisors are available to provide technical asisstance to developers on their projects and can be reached at Technical.Advisors@hcs.oregon.gov. The ORCA team manages applications and provides guidance throughout the ORCA process and ccan be reached through the ORCA Questions Portal​.​  Once projects are funded, the production team supports developers in fulfilling requirements and delivering affordable housing units.

Portfolio 

The Portfolio section oversees OHCS- and HUD-funded affordable housing properties in Oregon, many of which have affordability requirements lasting 30 to 60 years or longer. The team works closely with property owners and managers to ensure properties remain safe, livable, and in compliance with state and federal regulations. For compliance and asset management or HUD contract administration questions, please email arh.portfolio@hcs.oregon.gov​.

Strategy and Operations 

This section encompasses both planning and policy, as well as operations. The Planning and Policy team handles legislative programs, rulemaking, and housing policy development. The Operations team ensures that internal processes are efficient and equitable, allowing the division to function smoothly and effectively.​

Learn more about Affordable Rental Housing programs. ​

The Homeownership Division seeks to engage and assist low- to moderate-income Oregonians to attain and sustain homeownership. The Division’s four sections- Homeownership Programs, Manufactured & Marina Communities, Homeowner Assistance, and Homeownership Lending - expand access to affordable homeownership through competitive market rate mortgages, down payment assistance, pre-purchase education, and counseling. The programs also spur homeowner retention through education, foreclosure counseling, access to mediation, funding for health and safety repairs, and resources specific to manufactured housing.

In addition, Homeownership Programs increase the supply of affordable homes for purchase through homeownership development funding. The Homeownership Division supports a proactive, human-centered approach to empower first-time homeowners and provide stability and resources to all homebuyers. Using an equity and racial justice lens in all our work, we seek to remove systemic housing barriers and assist in creating equitable homeownership access for all Oregonians.

Divisional programs include:

OHCS’ Housing Stabilization Division provides critical services to low-income Oregonians. By working closely with a diverse set of local partners, culturally specific organizations, and local stakeholders, Housing Stabilization​​ provides its community and partner network with federal and state funding for essential services such as housing, utilities, and energy assistance. These essential services make the difference in attaining and retaining safe and affordable housing. Utilizing a racial justice lens to address root causes, the Housing Stabilization Division seeks to deploy a wraparound services approach to end homelessness and housing insecurity by ensuring every Oregonian has access to vital resources.

The Public Affairs Division promotes OHCS' core services, programs and mission by leading internal/external government affairs, strategic communications, and engagement. We serve as a bridge between policymakers, public interest and partner organizations to promote stable housing. Public Affairs actively strives to center equity and racial justice and to form deep partnerships across the housing continuum to achieve equitable and affordable housing outcomes for all Oregonians.

The Equity, Diversity & Inclusion (EDI) Office anchors and drives; we provide a firm foundation for living our values of equity and racial justice, by urging us to the organization we want to be.

We shepherd the agency’s Equity and Racial Justice work by engaging, internally, with executive leadership, management, and staff to develop and implement plans designed to meet the agency’s goal of a diverse and inclusive workforce and tracking agency-wide progress toward meeting the Equity and Racial Justice goals of the agency’s strategic plan, the Statewide Housing Plan (SWHP) to ensure OHCS’ efforts improve service equity to Oregonians. The EDI Office also provides vision, direction, counsel, and leadership to all employees in areas of equity, racial justice, diversity, and inclusion, in their daily work, and in the programs and activities of the agency.

DRR was established in response to the significant destruction of housing loss that resulted from the 2020 Labor Day Fires. At this time, the group is almost entirely focused on establishing and implementing projects and programs in support of the long-term recovery of communities and households impacted by those fires. In particular, DRR is leading the implementation of ReOregon​; 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. (ReOregon is funded through a $422 million federal Community Development Block Grant – Disaster Recovery allocation.)​

Central Services comprises of several subsections into one division:

  • Human Resources
  • Information Technology
  • Budget
  • Fiscal Compliance
  • Accounting
  • Project Management
  • Business Services
  • Procurement

Each section plays a specific role and provides essential services to address the agency's business needs. We seek to partner with divisions to continuously improve the agency's procedures and daily operations.



HR Customer Service

HCS_HR.Solutions@hcs.oregon.gov
Phone: 503-986-3565