Advocating for More Limited-Equity Co-ops

The good news about this over subscription in funding requests is that it demonstrates that there is growing statewide capacity for delivering a broader spectrum of affordable homeownership opportunities—meeting a critical need as homeownership continues to soar out of reach for more households. We're hopeful that the state legislature will see this as a sign that they need to match that capacity by increasing the amount of funding designated to affordable homeownership development. To that end, SquareOne has partnered with CASA to request state investment in continuing to advance the co-op ownership model in Oregon.

Property Acquisition in Springfield

While we await the funding needed to begin construction on Rosa Village, we're staying busy lining up future co-op developments. In January, we closed on two acres of vacant land in Springfield near Main St. and 33rd St. The acquisition was made possible by a forgivable loan from the City of Springfield's Land Acquisition Program, which financed 90 percent of the appraised value of the property. Preliminary plans include approximately 40 homes following the city's cottage cluster development standards.

New shelter in Partnership with HIV Alliance

Our build team completed the set up of a new shelter site to serve unhoused people in the LGBTQIA+ community. Known as Rainbow Corner, this new sit will be operated by HIV Alliance, providing stable shelter to six of their existing clients. SquareOne completed the site development and built the kitchen, restrooms, and community gathering space. Initial set-up also includes six Pallet Shelters, which we plan to replace with six new tiny homes later this year. We are optimistic that this new partnership may lead to more shelter opportunities in the future!

Getting to Know Peace Village Co-op

As we look forward, we also continue to learn from the experience of Peace Village, with many residents recently celebrating their one year anniversary of living at the co-op. In the the full length feature video below (a longer version that what we have shared in the past), some of the initial members share their experience during the first year of occupancy, and we now have each of the individual interviews compiled on our website.

Residents have also generously offered several tours to share their unique housing with the larger community, including a tour with Mayor Kaarin Knudson and County Commissioner Laurie Trieger (pictured above) and several classes from the University of Oregon.

And as part of our ongoing effort to improve and iterate our village model, we completed a post-occupancy evaluation to gather direct resident feedback. This evaluation included an in-person resident meeting and an online survey to supplement qualitative discussion feedback with quantitative data.

View the Peace Village Post-Occupancy Evaluation Report >>