Housing Authority reports early sales, tenant relocation progress in Section 18 disposition

WASHINGTON COUNTY, Ore. — The Housing Authority of Washington County told its Board of Directors on Aug. 5 that it has begun selling a 60-unit subset of its single-family public housing under a U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Section 18 disposition and is working to relocate remaining households.

The presentation, led by Molly Rogers, executive director of the Housing Authority of Washington County, summarized the authority’s relocation and sales work under HUD’s Section 18 disposition approval and described steps the agency is taking to prepare vacated homes for sale and to help residents who wish to purchase their unit.

Rogers said residents who do not purchase their homes will receive tenant protection vouchers so they can find housing elsewhere. “Every resident who does not end up purchasing a home will receive a tenant protection voucher so that they can find a new home of their choosing in the community or another community,” Rogers said.

The update explained why the authority is selling this subset of single-family detached homes: to redeploy proceeds into other public-housing preservation projects the agency judges better suited to local needs. Jill Chen, assistant director of the Department of Housing Services, described the presentation as “a quick update” of relocation, sales and next steps under the Section 18 plan approved by HUD in December 2024.

Key figures and status - Portfolio being sold: 60 single-family public-housing units (the authority clarified this is a subset of its total public-housing portfolio). - Unit composition: 51 three-bedroom units and nine four-bedroom units. - Households to relocate: 52 active households identified for relocation. - Relocations completed or pending: 16 households relocated, seven pending moves, three tenant purchases completed, and two additional tenant purchases anticipated. 24 households remain in active relocation status as staff and a relocation consultant work individually with each household. (All figures were reported by real estate manager Lisa Varen during the presentation.) - Sales completed and pending: As of the board meeting, the authority reported seven homes sold with a total sale value of $2,550,000 and four additional closings scheduled in August; two of those upcoming closings were expected to be sales to current resident-owners. Varen said most buyers are first-time buyers using Federal Housing Administration (FHA) loans.

Varen summarized housing-readiness work, saying many of the homes require repairs to meet FHA or lender standards and that the authority’s maintenance and contracting teams are completing upgrades to make units sale-ready. “We are finding that many of these homes need repairs in order to qualify for FHA loans or other mortgages,” Varen said.

Community partners and uses of proceeds The authority said it has signed memorandums of understanding with four community-based organizations (CBOs) to help purchase and place homes: Proud Ground, Portland Housing Center, Vienna Star, and Habitat of Duality. The authority said it releases units to these partners in batches (roughly eight to 10 homes per batch) and that CBOs must identify buyers who can combine down payment assistance with lender financing.

Agency staff noted down payment assistance is a key barrier to more tenant purchases and said they are interviewing CBOs and local government partners to identify improvements in process and resources. The authority also stated it applies a 10% discount off market rate automatically to these sales and will consider further discounts on a case-by-case basis.

The board heard that revenues from the sales will be redeployed into public-housing preservation projects; the authority named the WoodSpring preservation project — a 172-unit project in Tigard — as the first planned recipient of proceeds to fund renovation work.

Board response and next steps Board members praised staff for progress but asked questions about market conditions, down payment assistance and how properties are released to partners. Director Roper asked whether rising market values and interest rates had changed affordability for tenant buyers; staff said prices were close to earlier estimates and that interest-rate impacts make down payment and financing assistance more important.

No new policy or authorization was taken during the presentation; the item was an informational update. The board had earlier approved the meeting consent agenda (minutes of the June 17, 2025 meeting) by a unanimous 6–0 vote before the presentation.

The authority said it expects to complete relocations of identified households by 2025 and to finish all home sales by 2026, while continuing to release additional units for sale as they become vacant and sale-ready.

Support and staff credits Rogers and Chen thanked internal staff and partners; Varen recognized maintenance staff Nico Bautista, Luis Cordova and Trino Castaneda and named colleagues Melissa Daley and Matthew Follin for project work. The authority said it has retained a broker and a relocation consultant to assist residents and process sales.

Why it matters The sales represent a shift in how the Housing Authority of Washington County is using a portion of its single-family public-housing stock — converting some units to private ownership and using proceeds to preserve larger rental properties — while providing tenant protection vouchers and pathways to purchase for some existing residents. The plan affects residents in multiple Washington County communities and will influence where and how the authority invests future preservation funds.

Questions remain about how many households will ultimately purchase, how down payment assistance will be financed, and the full timeline for redeploying sale proceeds into preservation projects. Staff said they will return with further updates as batches are released and sales close.