Free Land 9/3/2026

Isaiah 48:17 (King James Version)

Thus saith the Lord, thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel; I am the Lord thy God which teacheth thee to profit, which leadeth thee by the way that thou shouldest go.

Christine Drazen’s plan is one of the most ambitious programs any Oregon Governor has ever attempted and is filled with excellent ideas. Forests for Oregon has been calling for the selling or homesteading Oregon land since it was formed, and she has it as one of her signature ideas in the making home buying affordable portion of it.

Make more land available for housing by ensuring buildable land is brought into production, accelerating opportunities to increase housing capacity, making unused state lands available for affordable housing and accurately identifying and protecting working farmland.

This is such a great idea and opportunity for young people to own homes as well as put down roots in Oregon. This could generate home ownership by lowering or eliminating the cost of the land and being able to focus on the construction costs and build real wealth in a short time while living on a self-sustaining small farm completely off grid.

If you look below, you will see a crude version of Bear Claw acres which is a piece of property outside of Salem on the way to Detroit Lake. It is around 13,000 acres of land which is mixed buildable and forested to give the people a chance to live in the foothills of the Cascades in one of the most beautiful spots in Oregon.

It had the Santiam forest fire go through it five years ago, so it is a prime spot for people to come in and clear forests or build in areas which are not forested. It would be an off-grid program so all the farms could be started out as self-contained units which do not need power lines or sewer and heavy roads.

You could put in a septic tank system which would cost between $15-30K depending on if the land perc’s or not which is the same as hooking to a sewer in the city. There is new technology being developed every day to bring these costs down. Then a well would cost between $10-20K and this area should have plenty of water since it is in or close to the Cascade aquafer which has an endless supply of water as was found out by the University of Oregon two years ago.

The final piece is the power which can be done very cost effectively with even better methods coming on board. You can get a power generator which runs on propane for between $6-8,000 for the generator and $2,000 for hooking up to the house. You can add batteries to be charged for lights and take time off the generator which is going to cost around $10K and dropping in price as the technology improves.

Now you have your house ready to go with propane cooking and heating and you are completely off the grid, and you can add all your phones, internet, and TV with satellite and whatever else comes along. This means for around $60-80K you are completely hooked up and ready to pour your foundation to build a home.

The cost of the home is going to be around $300-350/sq foot although that number can drop dramatically with sweat equity. Those willing to homestead the land in this way are usually pretty handy with a hammer and saw which means you can likely have this home built Amish style for around $250K all in and when the title is issued after 5-10 years whatever the agreement is you will own a property over a million with minimal payments.

She is suggesting the state help with the down payment or in this case it would be a construction loan which could be turned into a standard loan once the construction is completed with a large equity built in. If you read her plan, it is basically this and could be a boom for young people, veterans, and whoever you want to target.

The details would have to be worked out but this was the way land was developed prior to the Civil War and was supposed to be done after but there was a shortage of young men to pioneer this state. It can be done now and what an opportunity for the young men and the state since once it is deeded to the homesteader then it could be taxed as normal real estate and pay into the future.

There is 8,000 square miles of state land and 50,000 square miles of federal this can be repeated over and over to turn this into the wealthiest state per capita in the country if Oregonians would elect Drazan and change the congress to completely turn this economy around. She and they need your help to knock doors and give money to reach those young people who want to own a house but are locked out.

Pray for Christine’s campaign