An effort to build a mass-timber manufacturing facility for affordable, modular housing at the Port of Portland has received a major boost from the Oregon Legislature and a federal grant program.

The Hacienda Community Development Corporation and the port were awarded $5 million from the Legislature during a special session on Monday night.

Earlier Monday, the Oregon Mass Timber Coalition received a $500,000 grant from the U.S. Economic Development Administration to create a strategy for a mass-timber manufacturing facility at Marine Terminal 2. The coalition advances as a finalist to compete for up to $100 million in federal funding from the American Rescue Plan.

The local group is aiming to jump-start housing production and support Oregon’s emerging mass-timber industry, officials stated.

“This partnership with the Port of Portland fills a gap for modular housing developed right here in Oregon, providing not only new housing options but job opportunities and new markets for Oregon wood products,” Hacienda CDC CEO Ernesto Fonseca stated.

Fonseca added that modular homes “could offer rapid response options to address housing shortages created by emergencies like wildfires.”

The coalition comprises the Port of Portland, Business Oregon, the Oregon Department of Forestry, the Department of Land Conservation and Development, and the Tallwood Design Institute – a Corvallis-based partnership between Oregon State University and the University of Oregon.

The Oregon Department of Forestry plans to use the grant to partner with federal land managers to restore forests devastated by the 2020 Labor Day wildfires and provide wood fiber for mass timber construction, Deputy State Forester Kyle Abraham stated.

Oregon has quickly grown into a U.S. hub for mass timber. Riddle-based D.R. Johnson is a major manufacturer, and several Portland-based developers, architects and construction firms specialize in cross-laminated timber buildings.

Portland is home to the tallest CLT building, Carbon12, as well as major CLT commercial buildings such as District Office and Albina Yard. More are coming, including Sturgeon Development Partners‘ Flatworks building on Southeast Grand Avenue.

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