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Independent living in Oregon

Independent living is housing with services, not care, so Oregon does not license it and no state register of it exists. Any directory claiming a complete list built it from marketing material. What is below is two partial lists, and they are two different offers.

  • 150 subsidized apartment buildings — from HUD's own register of the housing it pays for. The rent is tied to income, so you have to qualify, and there is usually a waiting list. Apply earlier than you think you need to.
  • 5 private-pay campuses — checked one at a time against each community's own site. Anyone can rent; the questions to ask are about the contract.

Curated communities

5 campuses on the open market, each checked against its own site on the date shown. Not a complete list of what exists — there is no register to be complete against — and nobody paid to be here.

How to evaluate one of these

Contract type first.
Month-to-month rental is simple to leave; entrance-fee and continuing-care (CCRC) contracts are major financial commitments that deserve a lawyer's eyes before signing.
Ask what happens when needs change.
Is there assisted living or memory care on campus, a waitlist, priority access — or a polite request to move out?
Get the all-in monthly number in writing.
Base rent, meal plan, second-person fee, parking, and how much rates rose in each of the last three years.
Visit at a meal time, unannounced if you can.
The dining room at noon tells you more than any tour.

Subsidized apartments for older people on a low income

150 buildings across 28 Oregon counties, from HUD's register of the housing it subsidizes. These are apartments, not care: you live in your own place and no care license is involved.

Everything in this list is income-restricted. The rent is set against what a household earns, so a family has to qualify — a pension and a house to sell will usually put her over the line — and where she does qualify the wait is often measured in months or years. Ask each building what its list looks like and get on it early; being on two lists costs nothing.

Where they are

Multnomah County 36

Marion County 15

Lane County 12

Jackson County 11

Douglas County 11

Clackamas County 8

Washington County 9

Josephine County 6

Deschutes County 5

Umatilla County 5

Benton County 3

Clatsop County 3

Klamath County 3

Malheur County 3

Coos County 2

Harney County 2

Hood River County 2

Jefferson County 2

Lincoln County 2

Linn County 2

Baker County 1

Columbia County 1

Crook County 1

Curry County 1

Grant County 1

Polk County 1

Union County 1

Wallowa County 1

Run an independent living community? Get listed — free.

Listing is free and stays free: our rule is that money never changes what visitors see. Send your community's name, address and website; we verify against public sources and add you.