Thursday, Nov. 15, Oregon Housing and Community Services (OHCS) released the draft Breaking New Ground: the OHCS Statewide Housing Plan, a five-year look at the agency’s priorities, goals, and strategies in ensuring a stable and affordable housing landscape. Drafted after combining robust statewide outreach and partner input sessions with quantitative data analysis, the document reflects what is needed to address the housing and service needs of both rural and urban communities across Oregon. OHCS will seek feedback over the course of the next month to clarify strategies and strengthen the Plan. Director Margaret Salazar will be releasing a video interview later this month, ahead of five public meetings to introduce the draft plan and seek feedback on the strategies. The five meeting dates and locations are listed below. La Grande – November 29th 1 PM – 3 PM at Cook Memorial Library; Eugene – December 10th 10 AM -12 PM at a location to be determined; Redmond – December 11th 12 PM – 1 PM at Redmond City Hall; Part of the Housing For All meeting; Forest Grove – December 11th 1 PM – 3 PM at Forest Grove City Hall; Newport – December 13th 1 PM – 3 PM at Oregon Coast Community College. Additional details about the Statewide Housing Plan, including details about 2017 outreach and county profiles, are available online.
