ORCA set-aside funding

The Oregon Centralized Application (ORCA) development funding makes up the total funding available through the ORCA process. Of this funding, OHCS has reserved or “set-aside” funding for specific organizations and geographic regions to relieve the housing burden of historically underserved populations and ensure investment in communities across Oregon.

Geographic set-aside funding aligns with the Oregon Housing Needs Analysis and housing cost burden of Black, Indigenous, and People of Color communities across the state.

25% of total funding available is set-aside for the following organizations for 2024-25:

Culturally specific organizations (CSO)
Nonprofit development in rural communities

75% of total funding available will distributed geographically for 2024. Geographic set-asides are:

Eastern: 15%
Metro : 40% (Multnomah, Clackamas, Washington counties)
Western: 45% (This region is fully subscribed, see below for details)

Set-aside regions

Geographic set-aside investments to date

The total gap resources (Article XI-Q bonds, Document Recording Fee (DRF), Public Purpose Charge (PPC), and agricultural workforce capital funding) within each regional set-aside at the opening of the ORCA were based on total allocations from the Legislature as well as returned or rescinded resources, and exclusive of resources earmarked for homeownership development, last gap support, preservation activities, and pairing with Low-Income Housing Tax Credits in 2025.

Additionally, OHCS retained 10% flexibility for the resources within each region in order to allow for potential project adjustments, full funding of projects, or other required unanticipated needs. Thus, the available resources by set-asides eligible to be conditionally committed to projects at the opening of the ORCA, already committed and anticipated to be committed through October 2024 are as follows:

Learn more about the current ORCA pipeline with project details.

Western Region Fully Subscribed

Based on current investments and the ORCA pipeline database, OHCS has received, reviewed, and advanced enough applications to fully allocate the resources designated for the Western Region. This is contingent on the Housing Stability Council approving the project recommendations in October 2024.

After the October 2024 HSC meeting, any application from the Western Region currently in Impact Assessment, complete and/or reviewed, will be placed on a waitlist. OHCS will apply the same approach of a waitlist for the other regions as they become fully subscribed. As more resources become available, OHCS will continue to allocate funds based on established regional investment percentages, including for culturally specific organizations and nonprofit development in rural communities.. As resources are added, additional projects from the waitlist will be selected for funding reservation using the structure of the waitlist policy.

Learn more about the ORCA waitlist policy.

Partners will receive updates via Technical Advisory email regarding the status of ORCA resources. This includes notifications about when set-asides are fully subscribed or when additional resources are added to the funding pool.

Definitions

Culturally specific organization

OHCS defines culturally specific organization as an entity that provides services to a cultural community and the entity has the following characteristics:

Majority of members and/or clients must be from a particular Community of Color;
Organizational environment is culturally focused and the community being served recognizes it as a culturally-specific entity that provides culturally and linguistically responsive services;
Majority of staff must be from the community being served, and the majority of the leadership (defined to collectively include board members and management positions) must be from the community being served;
The entity has a track record of successful community engagement and involvement with the community being served; and
The community being served recognizes the entity as advancing the best interests of the community and engaging in policy advocacy on behalf of the community being served.

OHCS acknowledges many organizations are culturally responsive organizations, highly valued in the community for inclusive practices and meeting the needs of its communities and cultures. This does not necessarily meet the criteria of a culturally specific organization. For example, an organization may not meet the requirement of having a majority of members or clients who identify as Black, Indigenous, or Person of Color.

Nonprofit development in rural communities

OHCS defines rural or urban status in two parts. OHCS evaluates housing density by census tract and uses the National Center for Health Statistics County (NCHS) Schema to better understand the economic and community context surrounding a given tract. You can use the following map to determine whether a property location is designated as rural or urban OHCS Rural or Urban Status Map.