The rebuilding effort, called ReOregon, is led by the Oregon Housing and Community Services Department. The money comes from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
The state agency’s draft plan will be published on the agency’s website on Monday and the public will have until June 1 to call and email with their thoughts or show up at one of four community meetings that will be held in Lincoln City, Gates, Vida and Talent from May 16-19. The cities were chosen because they were among the most impacted from the fires.
“We are very interested to hear from fire survivors themselves,” said Alex Campbell, chief external affairs officer for disaster recovery and resiliency at Housing and Community Services in a statement.
The 2020 Labor Day Fires – the Echo Mountain, Archie Creek, Beachie Creek, Holiday Farm, Lionshead and Riverside mega fires and 11 other fires that were less than 100,000 acres – collectively burned more than a million acres and more than 4,000 homes west of the Cascades, according to the Northwest Interagency Coordination Center.
The state plans to spend the bulk of the $422 million on building housing, both owned and rented, primarily for low- and moderate-income residents. At least 80% of the money must be spent in areas that HUD has identified as the most impacted, which include Lincoln, Clackamas, Douglas, Jackson, Lane, Linn and Marion counties.
Other requirements are to spend at least 15% of the money on fire prevention, mitigation and resiliency projects. Money is also being proposed to help pay for rent, counseling and legal services and for grants to small businesses in those areas. The final plan will be approved by HUD in September, and the money will be available in the form of grants for the next six years.
Public hearings
Monday, May 16: Lincoln City: 6 p.m., Oregon Coast Community College’s North Campus, Community Room (#108);
Tuesday, May 17: Gates: 6 p.m., Gates Community Christ Church;
Wednesday, May 18: Vida: 6 p.m., McKenzie River Community School gym
Thursday, May 19: Talent: 6 p.m., Talent Community Center
- Oregon Capital Chronicle is a nonprofit Salem-based news service that focuses its reporting on Oregon state government, politics and policy.