Oregon Housing and Community Services (OHCS), Housing Authority of Jackson County (HAJC) and partners broke ground on the much-awaited rebuilding of Royal Oaks. The development is a manufactured home park in Medford that was destroyed by the Almeda Fire, displacing hundreds of people.
Representative Pam Marsh, spoke at yesterday’s event and highlighted the importance of this development. “The Almeda fire displaced thousands of our neighbors. The re-establishment of Royal Oaks provides a chance for 118 of those families to come home,” she said.
The much-needed affordable housing community is expected to open in late 2023 providing homeownership opportunities for people affected by the Almeda and South Obenchain fires.
“I think we can all agree that recovery for the survivors of these devastating fires has taken far too long. That’s why today is so important as we celebrate one of the first publicly supported, permanent affordable housing developments for wildfire survivors: Royal Oaks,” said Caleb Yant, deputy director at OHCS. “We look forward to survivors moving in next year and supporting hundreds of other households through the ReOregon program, which will launch in the spring. OHCS is never successful without our partners who plan, develop and manage affordable housing; in this case, we are particularly thankful for HAJC’s partnership.”
HAJC purchased the burned 21-acre Royal Oaks site with funding provided by the Oregon Legislature and OHCS is supporting the development of the site with a portion of the $150 million the Oregon Legislature allocated for affordable housing for fire survivors. The housing development, which will include 118 modular homes, is located on South Pacific Highway, which has easy access to public transportation, I-5, schools and other services in the neighboring towns.
“While we wish the work that we’ve begun wasn’t necessary, we’re grateful that we now have the opportunity to begin it and to ensure that there will be a safe and secure place where residents who lost everything can return to and call home,” said Ryan Haynes, director of real estate development at HAJC.
The Royal Oaks homes will be made available to low- and moderate-income households that lost a manufactured home that they owned in the Almeda or South Obenchain fires. Low and moderate income is defined as those with an income at or below 80% of area median income.
“The rebuilding of Royal Oaks will provide fire survivors who are still working towards long-term permanent housing, the opportunity to navigate into affordable housing, become homeowners and to continue on their path to recovery,” said Joe Vollmar, housing director at ACCESS.
Former residents of Royal Oaks will receive priority for the new homes—and exceptions to the income limit will be considered for those former residents. Any survivor of the Almeda or South Obenchain fires that needs assistance with rebuilding or finding new housing should contact the ACCESS Center for Community Resilience by calling 541-414-0318 or emailing ccr@accesshelps.org. ACCESS will be managing the process to match survivors with Royal Oaks and other opportunities.