ShelterCare’s new Center for Programs and Services has been up and running since late 2014, but it might not have been possible without the help of a state program called the Low Income Community Jobs Initiative, more commonly known as Oregon’s New Markets Tax Credit program.
The state’s New Market Tax Credits allowed ShelterCare to secure the necessary financing for an extensive remodel and expansion of a former timber warehouse purchased in 2011, transforming the old lumber building into a new hub for Eugene and Springfield services.
Located at the center of our 11-facility network, the Center for Programs and Services offers the benefit of having a variety of specialists located under a single roof – streamlining access to services for our clients, and enhancing our capacity to engage with partners to develop new programs that address homelessness, mental illness and poverty in our community. The new services hub also created seven additional full-time jobs.
Oregon’s New Market Tax Credit program was created in 2011 with a goal to create jobs in low-income areas by attracting new investors to the state and helping to fill financing gaps for organizations.
Like the federal New Market Tax Credit program, the state’s NMTCs are designed to enable job growth and retention in communities that historically have been underserved by traditional sources of investment capital. Since it began, Oregon’s NMTC program has helped to fund dozens of projects in economically distressed and underserved communities across the state.