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Oregon Housing and Community Services

Moderate-Income Revolving Loan FAQs

Find video tutorials and answers to common questions about the Moderate-Income Revolving Loan Program below. If any information here differs from the official program manual (PDF), adopted in OAR 813-410-0010, please use the guidance included in the manual.

MIRL Video Tutorials

 

Completing the Rental Housing Pro forma Tutorial

 

MIRL Initiate Master Agreement Tutorial

 

MIRL Intent to Apply Tutorial


 

Completing a Program Loan Request with the Amortization Schedule Tutorial

 

 

Program overview and eligibility

MIRL is designed to serve as a gap resource for eligible projects, ensuring that affordable housing developments can move forward with development when other funding sources fall short​​.​

The MIRL program is available to any city or county that adopts an ordinance or resolution to administer the progra​m and enters into an intergovernmental agreement (IGA) with OHCS. Any city or county that meets these criteria is eligible to administer MIRL funding, but no city or county is required to participate in MIRL.​​

Generally speaking, the maximum grant amount is equal to the estimated increase in​ property taxes expected to occur as a result of the MIRL-funded housing project, multiplied by the presumptive number of years that the city or county is willing to forgo those increased property taxes (generally 10 years, and a maximum of 15 years).​

​No. Developers must begin by applying to the relevant city or county.​​​

​For the MIRL program, OHCS felt it was important to keep the definition simple and aligned with county boundaries and therefore utilized Metropolitan Statistical Area definitions to determine urban areas and this also aligns with the USDA definition of rural.​​

Funding and financial considerations

MIRL is both a grant and a loan program. SB 1537 (2024) authorizes Oregon Housing and Community Services to make no-interest loans to cities and counties meeting certain requirements, to fund very low-, low- or moderate-income housing projects backed by local resources. A city or county uses a program loan from OHCS to award a project grant to a developer to develop an eligible housing project.​​

There is no minimum grant amount. The maximum grant amount is determined by the grant calculation formula and will vary from project to project.​

MIRL operates on a first-come, first-served basis, and OHCS will not maintain a waitlist. Any applications that OHCS receives after the MIRL fund balance drops below $500,000 will be returned to the city or county that submitted them, and the application process will be closed until additional funding is added to the program through the revolving loan process or through new funding allocated to the program.​

Though MIRL includes a fee escalator to help prevent a large difference between fees and actual taxes after the exemption has expired, it is possible that there may be a significant difference between fee payments and property taxes once the exemption ends. OHCS encourages cities and counties to make developers and fee payers aware of that possibility. OHCS is not liable for any financial issues caused by this potential discrepancy.​​​

​OHCS cannot give tax advice but strongly recommends grant recipients confer with their attorney or tax advisor to determine if grant funds are taxable.​

The eligible homeowner. This fee takes the place of the property taxes that the homeowner would otherwise pay on the improvements (e.g., the home itself).​​

The program fee shall be in an amount calculated as the combined total of:

    1. The annual increment or, if smaller than the annual increment, the total grant funds in a grant agreement divided by the loan term;
    2. An administration fee equal to 6% of the amount in paragraph (A) of this definition (5% to the sponsoring jurisdiction and 1% to the county tax officer); and
    3. A 3% escalator (applied to the sum of paragraphs (A) and (B) of this definition) each year after the first year of fee payment.
    4. Estimated fire district taxes that would have been collected each year if the exemption were not in place, where applicable). See “Fire District Fees."​

Property and tax-related questions

Yes. MIRL property tax exemptions apply only to the MIRL-funded improvements. Any property tax exemption that already applies to the improvements would prevent those improvements from being eligible for MIRL; however, even if land is exempt from property taxes, an affordable housing project on that land can still be eligible for a MIRL grant.​​

MIRL property tax exemptions are specific to the MIRL-funded improvements on the land. Any property tax exemption that also applies to the MIRL-funded improvements would nullify MIRL eligibility; however, property tax exemption on non-improvements (e.g., land) would be allowable.​​

Utility calculation methodology is determined by the city or county.​

The program fee payer is the entity or person that is also responsible for the non-exempt taxes on the nonexempt property in the same tax account as the MIRL-funded property. This can be the developer, the homeowner, or any individual, entity, agency, etc., who owns the property.​

Project requirements and development

Yes.​

  • For rental housing, units must be rented to eligible tenants with incomes at or below 120% of AMI and must be rented at a rate that is affordable to households with incomes at or below 120% of AMI. 
  • For for-sale (i.e., homeownership) housing, units must be sold to eligible homebuyers with incomes at or below 120% of AMI and must be sold at a price that is affordable to households with incomes at or below 120% of AMI.​

​View applicable AMI by county or by city​.​​​​​

MIRL can be used for any household below 120% of ​AMI including households who are moderate (80%-120% of AMI), low (50%-80% of AMI) and very low income (50% and below).

​ Yes, MIRL f​​unds can be used fo​r the following:​
  1. Infrastructure costs, including, but not limited to, system development charges;
  2. Predevelopment costs;
  3. Construction costs, including eligible soft costs; and
  4. Land write-downs.

Eligible costs incurred no more than 12 months preceding the date on which the eligible housing project received local site approval may be reimbursed through a grant. Each city or county will define “local site approval" for purposes of its MIRL grant program.​

Each city or county will need to determine if it will allow developers to apply for property that is not subdivided yet and will need to work with county tax officers on how to apply this program to unsubdivided property if it chooses to allow this (likely this will apply to for-sale property). OHCS anticipates that applications will be for subdivided land with clear ownership and fee-payer status. OHCS will allow a city or county to create a consolidated application for one project that includes multiple lots. If a city or county allows developers to submit applications for unsubdivided property, consideration around completion timing, fee assignment, valuation variance, long-term tracking of the lots once they are subdivided, and other factors should be considered and planned for. OHCS will only accept unsubdivided applications if a city or county has a clear plan in place on how to mitigate these issues.  ​

To promote geographic equity and address the challenges rural cities and counties may face in responding quickly, OHCS is establishing a rural funding floor. All new funding added to the MIRL program will be subject to a 20% rural funding floor.​

OHCS can provide program funds for mixed-income and mixed-use projects only if a project application clearly delineates between eligible and non-eligible project costs. 
 
For a project that also includes unrestricted, market-rate units, the department will use its Mixed-Income Shared Cost Allocation methodology and Applicable Fraction Policy to cover only those units that are rent-restricted to 120% of AMI or below. To qualify, affordability requirements must apply to a minimum of 10 units or 10% of the total units, whichever is greater. Please see the OHCS Shared Cost Allocation Rules (OAR 813-380) for further guidance.​

Compliance and administration

The Bureau of Labor and Industries (BOLI) is the only body that can make a determination regarding the applicability of prevailing wage requirements, and OHCS will require a BOLI determination for all projects. Generally, projects may be subject to state prevailing wage requirements if the developer receives $750,000 or more in public funds and does not meet all of the following criteria:

  1. For rental housing, 60% or more of the occupants have incomes less than or equal to 60% of AMI; for homeownership housing, 60% or more of the occupants have incomes less than or equal to 80% of AMI;
  2. The project is not more than four stories in height; and
  3. No portion of the project, even if not constructed or contracted for construction by the developer, constitutes public works.

At any time during development, any change in the project could cause the BOLI determination to be void. Developer should request updated determinations from BOLI if there are changes to the project after receiving a determination letter. ​

Yes. Even if the land is tax exempt, the homeowner pays property tax on the improvements (i.e., the home itself). The amount of tax that the homeowner is estimated to pay on the improvements will be the "fee” that repays the loan during the loan term. 

Any time after the program opening (Feb. ​19, 2025).​​