Mass timber panels being used to build high-quality, quick-to-assemble modular housing
By Shelby Oppel Wood – Oregon Community Foundation, The Business Journals
Today in Oregon, innovative efforts by the Oregon Community Foundation and donors to alleviate the state’s affordable housing shortage and homelessness crisis are creating new hope and enduring assets for rural, urban and tribal communities.
As some initiatives wind down, like the legislature-funded Project Turnkey, others are poised for growth, including OCF’s Oregon Impact Fund, through which donors are helping to create much-needed affordable housing throughout the state.
Check out this related article about an Oregon modular factory using mass timber
OCF is also at the table as momentum grows for Oregon to cultivate a new mass timber industry sector that could rapidly boost the state’s housing supply and help meet Gov. Tina Kotek’s goal of 36,000 new homes per year for the next decade.
Mass timber panels are made from compressed layers of wood, harvested through the selective thinning of small-diameter trees. Proponents say using mass timber to build high-quality, quick-to-assemble modular housing could also improve the health of Oregon forests, reduce mega-fires and reawaken the economies of former logging towns. OCF is listening closely for opportunities for philanthropic support and convening leaders in spaces where they can identify a path forward.
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Gary Fleisher, the Modcoach, author
