Oregon's gap money runs on recording fees and bonds — not the QAP — Oregon

Where GHAP's money actually comes from — and correcting a citation this guide was asked to verify

OHCS's General Housing Account Program (GHAP) is funded from state document recording fees (DRF), per OHCS's own GHAP and GHAP Veterans Program Manual (effective 10/1/2025). Tracing the statutory chain: county clerks charge and collect a $60 additional recording fee under ORS 205.323(1)(c) — raised from $20 by House Bill 4007 in the Legislature's 2016 short session. ORS 294.187(2)(b) then splits that revenue three ways among Housing and Community Services Department accounts created under ORS 458.620: 76 percent to the General Housing Account, 10 percent to the Emergency Housing Account, and 14 percent to the Home Ownership Assistance Account. GHAP is the grant-and-loan program OHCS runs out of that General Housing Account, under rules at OAR chapter 813, division 055.

This guide was asked to verify a claim that this money is called the "Oregon Housing Trust Fund" and is funded under ORS 456.581. Neither held up under direct research. ORS 456.581 governs the Manufactured Dwelling Parks Account — technical assistance and purchase loans for manufactured-dwelling-park tenant associations — an entirely separate program with no connection to the recording fee described above. As for the name: OHCS's own compliance-monitoring pages list a category called simply "Trust Fund" alongside GHAP, Housing Preservation, and Housing Plus, without explaining what it currently covers, and a national housing-trust-fund database and a Eugene city document both use "trust fund" loosely for state and local housing-fund structures generally. This guide could not confirm a currently open, distinctly named "Oregon Housing Trust Fund" development-funding program separate from GHAP and the federal National Housing Trust Fund described below. Until OHCS confirms otherwise directly, a developer should budget under GHAP's own name and statutory citation — not a name and citation this research could not substantiate.

Loan security mirrors LIHTC practice rather than displacing it: GHAP loans require an executed Loan Agreement, Promissory Note, and a recorded Trust Deed plus Regulatory Agreement and Declaration of Restrictive Covenants — except that if the project also carries a federal LIHTC allocation, an Operating Agreement may be substituted for the Regulatory Agreement and Declaration. All GHAP loans are subject to OHCS's published charges table (see Phase 8) at the time of closing.

LIFT Rental: a 0%-interest bond loan that trades a mortgage for state operational control

The Local Innovation and Fast Track (LIFT) Rental program, codified at ORS 458.480 to 458.490, is funded by Article XI-Q general obligation bond proceeds — not the recording fee. The Legislature created LIFT in 2015 with a $40 million initial investment for the 2015-2016 biennium; funding since then depends on each subsequent biennium's bond authorization, and OHCS's own "How to Apply" page describes LIFT and other gap subsidy as effectively exhausted for 2025-27 as of mid-September 2026. Because Article XI-Q bonds are general obligation bonds of the state rather than tax-exempt private activity bonds, using them requires the state itself to hold an ownership or operational interest in any property LIFT finances — OHCS satisfies this by requiring an operational interest rather than fee ownership, codified through a stack of LIFT-specific legal documents: an Operating Agreement (recorded), Guaranty Agreement, Project Management Agreement, Deed of Trust, Loan Note, Loan Agreement, and Intercreditor Agreement.

OHCS's own 2025-27 budget request materials to the Legislature describe figures as large as $700 million of a requested $780 million in Article XI-Q bonds directed to LIFT, with a separately stated $500 million said to support roughly 4,500 units — the two totals do not reconcile in the source documents this guide reviewed, and both are a budget request rather confirmed enacted appropriation. A developer should treat any specific LIFT dollar figure as unconfirmed until checked against the actual enacted 2025-27 budget bill, not a request document.

The Oregon Affordable Housing Tax Credit is a lender's credit — trace the savings before you count them as capital

The Oregon Affordable Housing Tax Credit (OAHTC), authorized at ORS 317.097 and administered by OHCS under OAR chapter 813, division 110, is a state income tax credit paid to the lending institution, not the developer. A qualified Oregon lender who reduces the interest rate on a project's permanent loan by up to 4 percentage points can claim an annual state tax credit to make up the lost interest income for the credit's term. For most projects, OHCS requires that the entire savings from the rate reduction be passed through to tenants as reduced rent — uniformly across eligible units, or concentrated on fewer units to reach deeper affordability — verified annually by OHCS. In that ordinary case, OAHTC never appears as a capital-stack source at all; it shows up only as a below-market interest rate on the permanent loan, lowering debt service rather than adding dollars to sources and uses.

OAHTC is applied for through ORCA and is generally paired with other OHCS resources, though it can stand alone for refinancing an expiring OAHTC-attached loan or for acquiring housing for conversion to affordable use. Lenders holding OAHTC-attached loans must submit an annual report to OHCS by May 1 along with a charge equal to 5 percent of the tax credits used that year (OAR 813-110-0030(2)) — a cost lenders generally pass through to the borrower, which a proforma should anticipate as a financing cost rather than treat as free.

The nonprofit low-income housing property tax exemption is a local option, not a statewide LIHTC benefit

ORS 307.540 to 307.548 — not a program OHCS administers — lets a local taxing jurisdiction exempt low-income housing owned by a qualifying nonprofit from property tax. Critically, ORS 307.543 limits the exemption to the levy of whichever "governing body" (a city, county, or other taxing district) has itself adopted ORS 307.540 to 307.548; it is not automatic statewide, and it is not automatic even within a county once one overlapping jurisdiction adopts it. ORS 307.541 sets the baseline eligibility test: the owner must be a 501(c)(3) or 501(c)(4) nonprofit corporation (or, under subsection (4), a partnership where a general partner is such a nonprofit and is responsible for day-to-day operation of the property) whose liquidation assets go to another exempt organization or the State of Oregon; the property must be occupied by low-income persons or held for developing low-income housing for a reasonable period; the property must be actually and exclusively used for the nonprofit's exempt purpose; and the exemption must be approved locally under ORS 307.547.

The statute itself sets no statewide income percentage or exemption percentage — ORS 307.541(2) instead lets each adopting governing body set its own additional criteria. Portland's own version, the Non-Profit Low-Income Housing Limited Tax Exemption (Portland City Code Chapter 3.101), illustrates what a local program actually looks like: initial tenant income at or below 60 percent of area median family income, rising to as high as 80 percent for continued occupancy in subsequent years; annual reapplication due January 31 for the tax year beginning that July 1; and the program has been extended by the Legislature through 2033. A 2019 Oregon Legislature committee summary also names Beaverton, Forest Grove, Cornelius, Tigard, and Wilsonville as adopting jurisdictions as of that date — this guide could not independently confirm that list is current or complete for 2026, and a developer should check with the specific city, county, and school district covering a given site rather than assume any of these numbers apply outside Portland.

HOME and the National Housing Trust Fund: OHCS runs one statewide, splits the other with big-metro consortia

OHCS is Oregon's sole grantee for the federal National Housing Trust Fund (HTF) — HUD designates exactly one HTF grantee per state, and in Oregon that is OHCS itself, reaching HTF-assisted units statewide. HOME Investment Partnerships Program funding is split: OHCS administers HOME directly only for the balance of the state that lacks its own HUD entitlement status. The City of Portland, City of Salem, the Eugene/Springfield metro area, and a consortium covering Clackamas, Multnomah, Washington, and Marion counties are themselves HUD-designated HOME Participating Jurisdictions (PJs) that receive and administer their own HOME allocations directly from HUD — a LIHTC deal sited in one of those jurisdictions accesses HOME through that local PJ or consortium, not through OHCS's ORCA process.

Where OHCS is administering the money — statewide HTF, or HOME outside the named PJs — the ORCA Manual's Commitment-step evaluation standards require a HUD-mandated HOME/HTF subsidy layering review before closing: OHCS evaluates whether the HOME or HTF assistance, alone or combined with other public assistance, is the minimum necessary to maintain affordability, and may recommend reducing the assistance, adjusting rents, or adjusting operating expenses as a result (this standard does not apply to LIFT Acquisition applications). One OHCS summary page states HOME units must remain affordable at or below 50 percent MFI for 60 years and HTF units at or below 30 percent MFI for 30 years; the 60-year HOME figure is longer than federal HOME regulations' standard 5/10/15/20-year affordability schedule under 24 CFR 92.252 (tied to per-unit subsidy amount), so this guide flags that figure as unconfirmed against the underlying federal rule rather than restating it as settled — verify the actual affordability term against the specific award agreement before modeling it.