GROUNDBREAKING CEREMONY FOR AFFORDABLE MANUFACTURED HOUSING PARK IN TALENT
New Manufactured Housing Cooperative Targets Latinx and Working-Class Residents Displaced From Their Homes by the 2020 Almeda Fire

In September 2020, the Almeda fire wreaked havoc across Southern Oregon. Agricultural workers—who were still reeling from the effects of the pandemic—were disproportionately displaced. Sadly, their community, Talent Mobile Estates, home to many of the area’s Latinx community, did not escape the devastation. Fewer than a dozen of the 99 manufactured homes in Talent Mobile Estates survived the fire. But, thanks to an innovative collaboration led by a local grassroots organization, Coalición Fortaleza, they began to chart the future of their community.

Through a participatory process, the community led the design of a new Talent Mobile Estates, a manufactured home community redesigned to accommodate 87 new homes. Coalición Fortaleza brought the community together and alerted CASA of Oregon, who provided financial and technical assistance for the project. Salazar Architect, based in Portland, led the participatory design process for the project. Construction is anticipated to be completed in fall 2024, and residents will own–and govern–the manufactured home park as Jackson County’s first resident-owned cooperative.

WHAT: Groundbreaking Ceremony

WHERE: 460 Arnos Street, Talent, OR

WHEN: April 27, 2024, 11a.m.- 12:30 p.m.

WHO: For the past three years, Medford-based Coalición Fortaleza has been working closely with CASA of Oregon and Salazar Architect, and other local organizations to restore homes for those who were displaced in the Almeda fire.

Project funders include:

· AllCare Health

· Energy Trust of Oregon

· Oregon Housing and Community Services

· The Rogue Valley Relief Fund

· NeighborWorks America

Development Team Members include:

· CASA of Oregon

· Coalición Fortaleza

· Salazar Architect

· Adroit Construction Company

· Powell Engineering

· Aman Structural Engineering LLC

· Terrain Landscape Architecture

· ArcSine Engineering

· CCD Business

· James Lutz, Critical Path Construction Management

· Pacific Power & Light

· Timberline Mobile Home Service

· Skyline Homes

· City of Talent

· Plant Oregon