PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — A top official with the United States Department of Agriculture arrived in the Portland metro area with big money for local projects.

Rural Utilities Service Administrator Andrew Berke, along with Representative Suzanne Bonamici (D-Ore), went to the Countryman Estates in Forest Grove, the future site of Habitat for Humanity’s eight planned new homes.

Berke said the USDA has a vested interest in this kind of project and is offering up more than $300,000 to make it happen.

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“People need to have choices in all parts of their lives, including where they want to live. If you have to go to the city to get housing or a job, then we’ll see our rural communities die,” Berke said.

Bonamici had already secured $750,000 in congressional funding for the project.

Berke announced another big investment: more than $1 million is going to Tillamook County to buy a facility that will eventually house a Habitat for Humanity Re-Store.

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