Hillsboro: State Reserves Up to $10.7M for 100 Apartments for Adults 55+ in Orenco Station
- Oregon's Housing Stability Council on Oct.
- The money comes from the state's Older Adult Housing Program.
- The reservation comes at the end of the first of three steps in the state's funding process, called Impact Assessment, and it is not a final award.
Oregon’s Housing Stability Council on Oct. 2 approved a funding reservation of up to $10.7 million for Elevate Hillsboro Phase I. The project is a planned four-story building with 100 affordable apartments for adults 55 and older in the Orenco Station neighborhood, according to the council’s Oct. 2 meeting packet.
The money comes from the state’s Older Adult Housing Program. Oregon Housing and Community Services (OHCS) listed the 100 Hillsboro rentals among the council’s approvals in an Oct. 14 news release, which said the council also approved “the last available funding” for that program.
A reservation, not a check
The reservation comes at the end of the first of three steps in the state’s funding process, called Impact Assessment, and it is not a final award. The staff memo says an approved project receives a conditional commitment of funds and then has up to six months to complete the second step, called Financial Eligibility.
Only after that does a project reach the third step, Commitment, followed by financial closing and construction. The project summary lists an anticipated closing date of June 15, 2027. It also warns that “there may be changes as it progresses” and ties the reservation to the project keeping the features it submitted.
Who the 100 apartments are for
Those features start with who can live there. The summary page lists all 100 units as affordable, split evenly between households earning up to 50% and up to 70% of area median income (AMI). HUD sets the income limits for subsidized housing from its estimates of median family income, adjusted for family size, according to OHCS’s income and rent limits page.
| Unit type | At 50% AMI | At 70% AMI | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| Efficiency | 6 | 5 | 11 |
| One-bedroom | 41 | 42 | 83 |
| Two-bedroom | 3 | 3 | 6 |
| Total | 50 | 50 | 100 |
One-bedrooms make up 83 of the 100 homes. The summary lists zero rent-assisted units and a 60-year affordability term, and it names the focus population as older adults, including older adults with disabilities. It does not list rents.
What $38.8 million buys
The project’s total cost is $38,813,429 in the summary, or $388,134 per apartment. That total is made up of $25,197,420 in hard costs and $13,616,009 in soft costs.
By our calculation, the state’s $10.7 million share covers about 27.6% of the total cost ($10,700,000 divided by $38,813,429). That works out to $107,000 per apartment. The summary page does not itemize where the remaining $28,113,429 would come from.
The packet does list a separate request for $15,206,358 in 4% Low Income Housing Tax Credits. It does not say how much money those credits would raise, so we did not add them to the state share.
The summary also lists a cost of $336 per square foot for the 75,000-square-foot building. By our calculation, that matches hard costs divided by floor area ($25,197,420 ÷ 75,000 = $335.97). Total cost divided by floor area is about $518 per square foot. The packet does not say which method it used.
Across the street from WinCo
Beyond the budget, the packet describes the site as “across the street from WinCo Foods,” with shopping, medical and financial services within a mile. The summary also names Cornell Creek Park, Shadow Springs at Rock Creek Trail and Orenco Woods Nature Park as being within a half mile to two miles.
The concept site plan on page 25 shows the building next to a large courtyard; the project description calls for garden beds, seating and paths there. It also labels the land south of the building “Phase 2.” The packet does not describe a second phase.
Residents would have help on site. EngAGE NW would staff a resident services coordinator with set office hours, focused on health and wellness, building savings and referrals to other services, the summary says.
The program’s last dollars
The program paying for the reservation is new. The release says the Older Adult Housing Program was established through House Bill 3589 (2025) to expand Oregon’s supply of affordable and accessible rental housing.
A packet update says the program’s money was offered in July. Two projects were up for it at the Oct. 2 meeting: Elevate Hillsboro and Gladys Land in Newport, which was recommended for up to $12.8 million. Together they total $23.5 million, by our calculation.
The memo names the funding recipient as Community Development Partners, LLC, while the summary page lists the sponsor as CDP Oregon, LLC. The packet does not record the vote count, though OHCS has posted a recording of the meeting on its Housing Stability Council meetings page.
For older residents hoping to apply, the packet gives no rents or leasing date. It does say the property’s lease-up and outreach materials would be translated into Spanish, Vietnamese, Chinese and Hindi.
Top image: File photo, 2015: an affordable apartment building under construction in Orenco Station (illustrative; not Elevate Hillsboro). Photo: M.O. Stevens, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (cropped).
