Lane County commissioners approved a $5.5 million plan to put affordable housing in the McKenzie River valley, a region still rebuilding after the devastating 2020 Holiday Farm Fire.
Commissioners unanimously approved a contract Tuesday, Dec. 16, that will pay for the purchase and placement of about 20 accessory dwelling units — essentially small stand-alone homes of up to 900 square feet each. The $5.5 million comes out of nearly $17.5 million the county has received in federal community development block grants for affordable housing in the region.
The planned 20 homes will come to a region that was hard-hit by the Holiday Farm Fire, which burned more than 173,000 acres and destroyed 517 homes on a 20-mile stretch that includes Blue River and other unincorporated communities like Finn Rock, Nimrod and Vida…