How This Oregon Agency Is Stretching Dollars to Boost Housing Stock
Jason Icenbice on the county housing authority’s preservation and development strategy.
Housing demand is at an all-time high in the U.S., with a shortage of 1.7 million units nationwide, according to The National Low-Income Housing Coalition. New supply is being added at a slow pace due to the high cost of capital, land and construction materials, as well as regulatory changes.
Nevertheless, public entities across the country are finding ways to address affordable housing supply challenges and pursuing every available avenue to expand housing stock. The Marion County Housing Authority in Oregon—which provides housing assistance to a large number of urban and rural communities in the county, and is actively involved in the affordable housing development, preservation and management—is looking beyond its main mission to provide affordable housing through the HUD-based Housing Choice Voucher program.
Executive Director Jason Icenbice told Multi-Housing News all about the business models the agency is exploring.
READ ALSO: Affordable Housing Industry Trends
What are your main goals this year and what challenges do you anticipate in pursuing them?
Icenbice: The primary goal of the MCHA is to expand access to affordable housing by actively pursuing property acquisitions and undertaking strategic redevelopment of our existing assets. However, a significant challenge remains limited funding availability, which continues to constrain the pace and scale of these initiatives.
A parallel objective for 2025 is to strengthen community partnerships. MCHA is focused on fostering deeper connections with local businesses and organizations to enhance collaborative efforts, support shared goals, and better serve the residents of Marion County.
How would you describe the state of affordable housing in Marion County?
Icenbice: Affordable housing remains a critical challenge, driven by high demand and limited supply. MCHA oversees affordable housing in 24 rural communities outside Salem and Keizer, Ore., where all waitlists, including those for Housing Choice Vouchers and MCHA-owned senior and family properties, are currently closed.
Wait times for voucher assistance range from two to seven years, while our housing portfolio sees average turnover rates of just 5 to 8 percent annually, resulting in wait times of two to five years, depending on the property. Historically, some properties, such as Farmdale Apartments and Harvest Manor, were open year-round for farmworker households under the USDA Section 514 program. However, due to shifting workforce demographics, MCHA exited that program and is redeveloping both properties under the LIHTC program for general family occupancy.
MCHA also administers project-based voucher units in Silverton and Woodburn, Ore., serving seniors and low-income families. While these resources provide vital support, overall availability remains far below current needs, underscoring the urgency for increased investment in affordable housing across the region.
What are you doing to preserve and expand affordable housing in communities across Marion County?
Icenbice: A major effort is the redevelopment of the former USDA Section 514 Farmdale Apartments, which will result in a new 45-unit multifamily complex in phase one and 17 affordable homeownership rowhomes in phase two. This project is a key step in modernizing our housing stock.
We are also pursuing a partnership with Catholic Community Services to develop up to 160 new affordable units, both rental and homeownership, on a site in Mt. Angel, Ore. The plan includes restoring the historic Marmion Hall for use as affordable senior housing. Additionally, MCHA is acquiring Spruce Terrace, a 34-unit property at risk of exiting affordability restrictions, to ensure these units remain available to low-income households.
These efforts reflect our commitment to both creating new housing opportunities and protecting existing ones from market loss.
Tell us more about your collaboration with private developers to address housing needs in the county.
Icenbice: Despite ongoing housing unit growth, Marion County continues to face a worsening housing and homelessness crisis. Rising rents and home prices, coupled with stagnant wage growth and limited affordable housing stock, are fueling the issue.
To address this, the MCHA partners with private developers to both construct new affordable units and preserve existing ones. A recent example includes our collaboration with HomeFirst–Green Light Development, where MCHA serves as a special limited partner on two affordable housing projects in the Santiam Canyon. Through this partnership, MCHA is able to contribute property tax abatements, strengthening the project’s financial feasibility and helping these developments move forward.
READ ALSO: How Affordable Housing Developers Can Overcome Today’s Challenges
You said that one of the main challenges to moving projects ahead is limited funding availability. How difficult is it to fund affordable housing today?
Icenbice: To make projects viable, developers must now assemble highly intricate, multi-layered financing packages. Given the limited availability and complexity of federal resources, MCHA primarily relies on state-level funding through Oregon Housing and Community Services. However, even these resources are becoming harder to access.
We’re seeing increasing difficulty in securing 4 percent low-income housing tax credits and private activity bonds, once considered a non-competitive resource in Oregon. Additionally, housing authorities in Oregon have lost the ability to directly issue PABs due to overwhelming statewide demand, further complicating the development landscape.
Budget cuts and policy changes are also weighing heavily on developers’ ability to make projects pencil out. How has MCHA responded to these challenges?
Icenbice: To date, the MCHA has been fortunate to avoid direct budget cuts to our core operating programs, which has allowed us to maintain stable operations and continue delivering services without disruption. However, we recognize that this stability may not last forever.
In response, we are taking a proactive and strategic approach to resource management. We are closely monitoring federal and state policy developments, preparing contingency plans, and making thoughtful decisions to ensure long-term organizational resilience.
What do you think is the most effective solution to alleviate the housing crisis? Is building more the only way out of it?
Icenbice: The housing crisis we’re experiencing, particularly on the West Coast, is a symptom of deeper systemic issues, including income inequality, the high cost of higher education, and limited access to affordable health care. While increasing the housing supply is essential, it alone will not solve the problem.
Many families today are working multiple jobs just to meet basic needs like housing, food and transportation. When an unexpected medical expense or job loss occurs, the financial strain can quickly lead to housing instability. In addition, even when affordable housing units exist, many households are unable to qualify due to credit challenges or prior evictions.
Addressing the crisis requires a multi-faceted approach that includes not only building more affordable units but also increasing household stability through expanded access to health care, education and economic opportunity. In short, we must address the root causes, not just the symptoms, if we want to see lasting, meaningful change.
READ ALSO: How Looming Construction Cost Hikes Will Hit Affordable Development
In this context, are residents interested in the Family Self-Sufficiency Program? In what way has it has helped Marion County residents so far?
Icenbice: Yes, interest in the Family Self-Sufficiency program at the MCHA has grown steadily, especially once residents understand the program’s benefits—particularly the ability to build savings through escrow without losing housing assistance. Thanks to the outreach and commitment of our FSS coordinator, we’ve seen encouraging engagement.
Currently, 16 participants are enrolled and have collectively saved over $119,000. While this is short of our goal of 75 participants, several structural barriers exist, including a high proportion of elderly households on fixed incomes—over 60 percent of our 930 HCV families—limited affordable childcare, and few local IDA program providers.
Despite these challenges, our FSS graduates reflect the program’s transformative potential. One participant used escrow savings to start a roofing business, while another one recently purchased his first home. These successes illustrate how FSS empowers families to achieve financial independence through individualized support and long-term planning.
Looking ahead, what are your expectations for affordable housing locally and nationally?
Icenbice: While I believe the affordable housing industry faces significant challenges at the local, state, and national levels, I remain cautiously optimistic. The current system is complex and often discouraging. Development is heavily incentivized, while long-term property management and resident services are underfunded and undervalued. We struggle to attract and retain talent because wages often do not reflect the level of expertise and dedication required to navigate the regulations and serve our communities effectively.
That said, I continue to be inspired by the innovation and creativity I see from other housing authorities and nonprofit partners. Despite limited resources, people across the country are finding new ways to stretch every dollar, build strategic partnerships, and implement programs that truly serve residents. It can sometimes feel like we’re holding the dam together with duct tape. But we’re still holding it! That persistence and ingenuity give me hope that with the right policy reforms and public investment, we can create a more sustainable, effective system that supports both the people who live in affordable housing and those who work to provide it.
