2026 Legislative Agenda: Build New Permanently Affordable Co-ops—and Preserve Existing Affordable Homes Through Co-op Conversion

Oregon needs both new housing and preservation of existing housing —and we need solutions that keep homes affordable for the long term while strengthening resident stability and control.

In the 2026 legislative session, SquareOne Villages is supporting two complementary priorities using Article XI‑Q bond financing:

Priority 1: Add $100M to LIFT Homeownership to help build more new construction Permanently Affordable Housing Co-ops.

In 2025, the LIFT Homeownership program was restructured, and SquareOne’s Rosa Village Co-op became the first cooperatively owned housing to receive a LIFT Homeownership award—providing a strong example of what this model can deliver (see chart below).

The challenge is that LIFT Homeownership is now oversubscribed and underfunded, and current allocations make it difficult to fund larger co-op developments at scale.

For the current 2025-2027 biennium, LIFT Rental received $700m and LIFT Homeownership received just $100m. But with the inclusion of cooperative housing, Homeownership can now reach households previously only served by Rental while providing a more equitable product to residents, and thus deserves a greater allocation of funding.

We urge legislators to take action to add an additional $100m to this critical program.

➡️ Download our 1-pager overview for this issue (PDF)

Priority 2: Support HB 4036 to provide $100M for preservation, creating a new resource that can help keep existing affordable rentals affordable (with major potential for co-op conversions)

We also support HB 4036, which would create the Housing Opportunity, Longevity, and Durability (HOLD) Fund and authorize $100 million in Article XI‑Q bonds for affordable housing preservation—acquiring and rehabilitating at-risk properties and preserving manufactured housing communities when they come up for sale.

Housing Oregon emphasizes the urgency: roughly 15,000 affordable homes are at risk statewide due to overlapping pressures like expiring affordability, serious physical repair needs, and manufactured housing parks vulnerable to sale and displacement.

➡️ Download Housing Oregon's full testimony on this issue (PDF)

This new preservation funding source could also have a big impact in helping to catalyze co-op conversions: helping tenants purchase their building when an existing affordable rental property is approaching a recapitalization moment—locking in long-term affordability while strengthening resident stability and community control.