Oregon Department of Environmental Quality received $25.6 million to create the Low-Embodied Carbon Housing Program as part of Oregon's Climate Equity and Resilience Through Action (CERTA) grant. The program incentivizes lower-embodied carbon housing production through two key embodied carbon reduction strategies: Reuse and Space-Efficient.
The City of Medford is one of nine communities awarded funding under this program, through the Reuse strategy. The program provides $2,475,000 through rebates to incentivize development of 55 units of affordable housing in Medford. Accepted projects will earn a rebate of $45,000 per unit.
For the purposes of the Low-Embodied Carbon Housing Program, reuse includes projects which convert an existing vacant or underutilized non-residential building to new housing. Examples include the upper story(ies) of a downtown retail space, office, or hotel.
Produced units cannot be used for short-term rentals (less than 30 days). Units must also be provided at less than or equal to rent limits for moderate-income projects (120% of the Area Median Income) as defined by Oregon Housing and Community Services.
To see if a project is eligible, click on the Applicant Guidebook link below. To apply for the program, click the Application link.
This program is funded by a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) grant under the Climate Pollution Reduction Act. The Program is estimated to reduce greenhouse gas emissions 343,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent by 2050. This is equivalent to eliminating the estimated electricity use of those same 940 units for the next 75 years.
To learn more, contact the Housing and Community Development Division via email at hcd@cityofmedford.org or call 541-774-2380.