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City of Medford (2024) Print
2024 AARP Community Challenge Grantee
Project Category
Housing
└ Accessory dwelling units, tiny homes and manufactured housing
└ Accessory dwelling units, tiny homes and manufactured housing
Medford faced a shortage of accessible, affordable housing as most new units were detached single-family homes despite Oregon's middle housing law. To change this, the city produced permit-ready plans for duplexes, triplexes and fourplexes with accessible features, coordinated with LifeLong Housing standards. Designed for single-family lots in walkable neighborhoods, these plans cut costs and simplify permitting. They aim to expand housing choices for older adults to age in place and foster multi-generational living, while also prompting conversations about state code updates to ease future development.
Project description was created using generative AI and then reviewed for accuracy.
Project description was created using generative AI and then reviewed for accuracy.
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Terrytown, LA
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2024
Project Category: Accessory dwelling units, tiny homes and manufactured housing
Description: Older adults in the New Orleans metro area face high poverty rates and housing vulnerability, worsened by severe storms and rising insurance costs. To address this, Habitat built a model home showcasing climate-resilient design and universal accessibility features. It then hosted seven open houses for over 100 attendees, including prospective buyers and stakeholders. The model sparked investment and accelerated plans for Rising Oaks, a 150-unit development with cottages for older adults featuring microgrid power and flood-resistant construction. Attendees praised the accessibility and safety features, setting a new standard for affordable, resilient housing.
Project description was created using generative AI and then reviewed for accuracy.
Eugene, OR
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2017
Project Category: Accessory dwelling units, tiny homes and manufactured housing
Description: SquareOne Villages constructed two ADA-compliant tiny houses at Emerald Village Eugene, a permanently affordable tiny home co-op. The 1.1 acre location features 22 tiny houses, ranging in size from 160- to 288-square-feet. Each contains a kitchenette, bathroom and sleeping and living areas. Private donations and in-kind contributions by local architects, builders and others funded the project, with future residents contributed their labor during construction. As a result, construction costs came to around 55,000 per unit, including the price of the land. The monthly cost to residents ranges from 200 to 300 and covers utilities, maintenance, operating costs and common spaces. As members of a housing cooperative, the residents own shares in the village, enabling each to receive some money if they choose to move out. To promote diverse housing options, organization also hosted two workshops on accessory dwellings unit in Eugene.
Livingston, MT
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2024
Project Category: Accessory dwelling units, tiny homes and manufactured housing
Description: Park County's housing shortage left older adults and low-income workers struggling to age in place or stay near family. The project offered free tours of seven accessory dwelling units and a three-part workshop for 38 homeowners, most age 50-plus, covering financing, design and construction. These sessions broke down barriers and highlighted accessibility features. Participants left empowered to start projects, and the Coalition expects more ADUs to expand housing options and family stability. One attendee said that the program gave her a pathway into retirement.
Project description was created using generative AI and then reviewed for accuracy.
Nearby AARP Community Challenge Projects
Medford, OR
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2021
Project Category: Lifelong housing and accessibility
Description: Recent wildfires and the COVID-19 pandemic compounded a growing homelessness crisis in Medford. Part of a statewide initiative to expand non-congregate emergency shelter services, Rogue Retreat worked to convert the 47-room Redwood Inn into transitional housing. This project made accessibility upgrades to a single-room-occupancy unit on the property. Rogue Retreat hired an architect to design features including a zero-step entranceway, ADA-compliant handrails in the unit's bathroom and accessible features for the kitchenette. The upgrades allow Rogue Retreat to provide shelter for unhoused individuals of all ages and abilities, giving them needed stability as they search for permanent housing.
Talent, OR
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2019
Project Category: Entrepreneurship and improved economic resilience
Description: Through a series of intergenerational workshops, Talent Maker City invited residents of all ages to learn STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics) skills, such as carpentry, 3D printing and screen printing. Workshop activities included screen printing shirts for a garden club fundraiser, building bat houses and making pollinator watering dishes. The pollinator theme reflected Talent's designation as a Bee City USA and local interest in pollinator gardens. Although COVID-19 restrictions curtailed the program's full impact, the city's maker space established a partnership with the Talent Garden Club. Future plans include programming to promote Talent as an age-friendly city.
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