Thank you to all the project teams who applied for funding during OR-MEP Open Enrollment 2025 Round 1 (2025-R1).

OR-MEP received 38 applications for funding in 2025-R1 Open Enrollment that closed on March 3, 2025.

With just over $1.8 million in funding available this round, we selected 14 projects from 12 organizations for OR-MEP funding based on our competitive scoring process. OR-MEP allocated funding between four categories as follows:

Project Type/Utility Pacific Power Service Area Portland General Electric Service Area Total
New Construction $600,000 $447,000 $1,047,000
Existing Building $273,000 $505,000 $778,000
Total $873,000 $952,000 $1,825,000

There are more projects seeking OR-MEP funding than the program’s budget will be able to serve. In July 2023, OR-MEP launched a competitive Open Enrollment process in collaboration with the OR-MEP Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Coalition.

Open Enrollment intends to distribute funds more equitably to benefit residents who are navigating low income, people of color, those who are disproportionately impacted by high energy burden, those for whom English is not their first language, and those living in rural communities.

After 2024-R2, the program team worked with the OR-MEP DEI Coalition to revise some of the language in the Open Enrollment application. We’ve adopted the new term “Low-Cost Apartments” in place of the previous term “Naturally Occurring Affordable Housing” (NOAH). We hoped this term would provide more clarity for property owners of unsubsidized rental properties, who are often small property owners maintaining low rents due to a number of factors, such as community needs and property age.

To learn more about this change, read this blog article.

OR-MEP received more applications in this round from Low-Cost Apartments than we did during 2024 Round 2. In general, the Open Enrollment process is leading to our intended outcome: selection is more likely for projects that are serving rural residents, residents navigating very low incomes, and residents at properties working with BIPOC CSO or owned by BIPOC CSO. Selected projects in 2025-R1 include:

  • 8 projects partnering with or owned by BIPOC Culturally Specific Organizations (57% of selected projects)
  • 8 projects in communities with a high priority area index score of 3 or higher, indicating very high energy burden (57% of selected projects)
  • 5 projects in rural communities (36% of selected projects)
  • 3 projects are Low-Cost Apartments (21% of selected projects)
  • 4 projects serving residents navigating very low incomes (29% of selected projects)
  • 11 projects are non-profits or housing authorities (79% of selected projects)

Note, some selected projects have more than one of the above characteristics.

The following four charts detail the projects selected in 2025-R1 within each set aside category.

Pacific Power Existing Building (5 Selected Projects)

Project Name Applicant Organization Location Number of Units
Alberta Apartments Sabin CDC Portland 24
Charlotte Lewis Sabin CDC Portland 12
Country Terrace Apartments Peter Caine Trust Bend 24
Majestic Gardens – Eric Park Trinity Development Alliance Junction City 20
Otesha Sabin CDC Portland 11

 

Pacific Power New Construction (3 Selected Projects)

Project Name Applicant Organization Location Number of Units
Allenwood Oregon Human Development Corporation Grants Pass 113
Pacifica Centro Cultural Seaside 69
Prairie Avenue Apartments Wishcamper NextGen Developers LLC Corvallis 160

Portland General Electric Existing Building (3 Selected Projects)

Project Name Applicant Organization Location Number of Units
Del Ray Apartments Nasser Farhoud Portland 35
Goose Hollow Tower College Housing Northwest Portland 210
Powell Vista Manor Portland Disciples Housing, Inc. Gresham 71

Portland General Electric New Construction (3 Selected Projects)

Project Name Applicant Organization Location Number of Units
Colonia Libertad II Farmworker Housing Development Salem 44
Farmdale Apartments Marion County Housing Authority Woodburn 45
Gresham Civic Station Home Forward Gresham 60

The selected projects are located throughout Pacific Power and Portland General Electric territory, as shown in the maps below.

The chart below shows the average application scores by utility territory and project type (i.e., existing building or new construction). The average score for all selected projects in 2025-R1 was 21.4 out of a total possible 37 points.

N/A indicates there were zero non-selected projects in the Pacific Power – Existing Buildings category.

The following charts show average scores for selected projects in each of the prioritization criteria categories.

OR-MEP Open Enrollment 2025-R1 Selected Projects Average Scores

Prioritization Criteria Pacific Power Existing Buildings Pacific Power
New Construction		 Portland General Electric Existing Buildings Portland General Electric New Construction
Project is in a BIPOC community 2.0 2.3 4.3 3.7
Project is primarily serving BIPOC residents 2.6 4.3 1.0 2.7
Project’s High Priority Index Score (Energy Burden) 3.0 3.7 5.0 5.0
Project location relative to available resources 3.6 10.0 2.3 6.0
Project is a Low-Cost Apartment (LCA) 1.0 0.0 3.3 0.0
Project is serving households with very low incomes 3.4 2.3 3.7 3.0
Non-profit or housing authority 1.6 1.3 1.3 2.0
Total Average Score 17.2 24.0 21.0 22.3