Portland Awarded $6 Million To Construct Affordable Housing Unit

PORTLAND, OR - From The Framework Project: Home Forward, project^, and the Framework team announced today that it has been awarded $6 million to develop 60 units of affordable housing in what will be the first high-rise structure in the U.S. made from wood and the first earthquake-resilient building of its kind in America.

The funding award came through the Portland Housing Bureau’s Fast Starts program — a city initiative designed to get shovel-ready affordable housing units built as quickly as possible to react to our city’s housing crisis.

"By investing in Framework, our city will now be home to the first skyscraper made from wood in the United States," Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler said in a statement released Tuesday. "This project not only reflects Oregon’s leadership in the newly emerging wood products industry of Cross Laminated Timber (CLT), it also demonstrates our city’s commitment to finding innovative ways to quickly deliver affordable units during our housing crisis."

“Framework was selected as a Fast Starts project after a rigorous process under the city’s new effort to mobilize resources quickly to alleviate the housing crisis,” said Portland Housing Bureau Director Kurt Creager. “Because so many partners have also contributed to make this important project a reality, we have a great opportunity to begin using this innovative technology in Portland to create more resilient, sustainable, and affordable housing.”

Framework, which received building permit approval in June 2017, was selected for its project readiness, alignment with the city’s equity goals, ability to leverage city funds, new partnerships and philanthropic incentives, and innovation in sustainable materials and earthquake resilience.

Framework’s new technology and innovation are being paid for by grants from the U.S. Forest Service, Metro, Hewlett Foundation, Harbourton Foundation, Edwards Mother Earth Foundation, and the Oregon Community Foundation.

"We are pleased to be part of the mayor's comprehensive efforts toward providing affordable housing to an underserved community of residents in Portland," said Anyeley Hallova, developer for project^. "Our proud commitment to social equity and economic opportunity in urban and rural Oregon is being cosigned by a powerhouse alliance of like-minded organizations whose focus is on energy efficiency, conservation, building innovations, rural economic development, sustainable forestry, transit-oriented development, and affordable housing."

Framework is an innovative demonstration project that will utilize over 50 percent of the wood from regionally harvested timber and/or local manufacturing in rural Oregon communities — such as Riddle — and will be a catalyst for economic development. The goal is to demonstrate a path for tall wood buildings, thereby unlocking the demand for new timber and manufacturing jobs and investment in mass timber products.

"We need more affordable units today and additional tools to address our community's long-term needs," said Home Forward Executive Director Michael Buonocore. "As a public agency, we have a responsibility to help create more options to develop affordable housing that's seismically safer, more efficient, and more sustainable. We're thrilled to be a part of this innovation for our industry."

The Framework Project

Framework is being developed by project^, in partnership with Home Forward, and designed by LEVER Architecture on land currently owned by Beneficial State Bancorp. Future tenants of the building will support a unique blend of programming, including office space for Beneficial State Bank and Albina Community Bank, which will provide resources and programs to build residents' financial capacity, aligned street level retail, BCorp businesses and social enterprise — along with a tall wood exhibit and 60 units of housing affordable at or below 60 percent Area Median Income (AMI).

Framework is an award-winning project nationally and locally in recognition of its innovative, sustainable design and pioneering research.

The project recently received an acknowledgment prize for North America from the LafargeHolcim Foundation, considered the world’s most significant competition in sustainable design, and scooped the national U.S. Tall Wood Building prize of $1.5 million from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), Softwood Lumber Board, and Binational Softwood Lumber Council to fund the research necessary to utilize wood products in high-rise construction.

Framework underwent a stringent performance-based review process that included a series of fire, acoustic, and structural tests undertaken at Oregon State University (OSU), Portland State University (PSU), and with the TallWood Design Institute (OSU/UO).

The building passed design review approvals from the City of Portland in July 2016, and the official building permit for Framework was approved by the State of Oregon and the City of Portland in June 2017 — signaling a landmark decision for the U.S. construction industry.

Construction is planned to begin in early 2018 and be completed by mid-2019.

The Framework Project is represented by a collective of strong industry expertise that will drive the project’s success and will promote the use of wood technologies in future tall building developments. The group includes, in addition to project^ and Home Forward, LEVER Architecture, Walsh Construction Co., KPFF Consulting Engineers, ARUP, PAE Consulting Engineers, 2.ink Studio, and StructureCraft Builders Inc.

For additional information, https://www.frameworkportland.com.

Photo courtesy of AP Photo/Don Ryan