LOC News
Project Turnkey Receives $30M to Purchase Hotels for Emergency Shelter
On Friday, October 23 the Legislative Emergency Board approved $30M to fund the work of Project Turnkey and purchase motels for use as non-congregate shelter in communities impacted by wildfires.
Project Turnkey is a partnership between the LOC, the Association of Oregon Counties (AOC), the Oregon Community Foundation (OCF), the Oregon Restaurant and Lodging Association (ORLA), state agencies and housing providers that launched at the start of the pandemic to help stand up more non-congregate shelter in hotels/motels. In recent weeks, Project Turnkey has focused its efforts to rapidly acquire motels for new shelter capacity to meet immediate needs of Oregonians during the COVID-19 pandemic and wildfire disasters.
These motel purchases are intended to be long-term housing assets for communities, with the opportunity to convert them to permanent supportive housing or other affordable housing to meet local needs over time. Project Turnkey will support local partnerships between cities, counties and providers to provide technical assistance and help identify resources for ongoing operations.
The Oregon Community Foundation (OCF) will be administering this new funding, with oversight from Oregon Housing and Community Services, and the OCF will run an expedited RFA process to award funds for acquisition and initial operations to local partners. Who owns and operates the facility will be up to the local community, but will likely be a local housing provider, county or some combination. City leaders are a key partner in helping decide the which hotels are purchased and where, ensuring alignment with local siting and zoning, and identifying ongoing operations funding.
If your community is in a wildfire-impacted county and has interest in pursuing motel acquisition, please contact LOC to learn more.
Contact: Ariel Nelson, Lobbyist – anelson@orcities.org
Last Updated 10/30/20