New housing development taking shape north of Phoenix

JACKSON COUNTY, Ore. —Nearly a year and a half after the Almeda Fire, new housing developments are starting to take shape just north of Phoenix. A former manufactured home park that was once a total loss in the Almeda Fire, is now becoming a new development opportunity.

Last fall, the Housing Authority of Jackson County purchased the property of the former manufactured home park, called Royal Oaks.

“We’re starting over with brand new utilities, paving, concrete, new foundations for the homes,” said Jason Elzy, Executive Director of the Jackson County Housing Authority.

It’s located just north of Phoenix on Pacific Highway. The housing authority is working with the state of Oregon, through the Oregon Department of Housing and Community Services. The group is working to develop the park, placing up to 120 new modular homes on the site. A modular home is built in a factory, rather than on a construction site.

“Homeownership opportunities for fire survivors, particularly for fire survivors that may have lost their homes that were living in a manufactured home park that was destroyed in the fire,” said Elzy.

It’s partnering with Access and its Center for Community Resilience. Access will identify potential homeowners, providing referrals through the housing authority for placement in the park, as the need still remains.

“A project like this is huge, knowing that a lot of the housing that was lost in Phoenix-Talent area were a lot of manufactured homes or affordable type homes, having something come in that’s new and provides an affordable place they can reside in is huge,” said Joe Vollmar, Access Housing Director.

The housing authority says it’s hopeful construction will begin this summer.

“We are working on the site design, the civil engineering, so we can submit plans for site plan approval, working toward building permits, and construction documents to get the project out to bid,” said Elzy.

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Jenna King is the 6pm and 11pm anchor for NBC5 News. Jenna is a Burbank, CA native. She graduated from the University of Oregon with a degree in Broadcast Journalism and a minor in Sports Business. During her time at Oregon she was part of the student-run television station, Duck TV. She also grew her passion for sports through her internship with the PAC 12 Network. When Jenna is not in the newsroom you can find her rooting for her hometown Dodgers, exploring the outdoors or binging on the latest Netflix release.
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