ORG Projects

Quality Housing for Working Families
A Project of the Orcas Research Group

Contact person: Paul Losleben
Telephone: 360/376-6804
Email: losleben@rockisland.com
Purpose:
Develop and implement a sustainable plan to provide quality, affordable housing for working families with a household income between 80 percent and 120 percent of median income per family size.
Goals:
- Put in place an organization that addresses the need for moderate and middle income housing.
- Demonstrate that quality housing for working families can be accomplished utilizing a combination of public and private financing.
- Based on experience and demonstration of need, continue to refine the approach.
Status: An attempt was made to create a Housing Bank at the county level to address the needs for affordable housing and to fund the Housing Bank with an excise tax on real estate transactions. The Housing Bank was established by County Council resolution in February 2006, but the excise tax was defeated at the polls in May 2006.
Mission statement: The mission of the Orcas Research group with regard to affordable housing is to provide background research supporting affordable housing organizations and to facilitate the development of affordable housing strategies.
Publications

Financing of Infrastructure Worker Housing December 8, 2004.
This report examines alternatives for private financing of housing in the 80% to 120% median income salary range.
Need for Infrastructure Worker Housing December 2004
Document in Word Format
This report presents the results of a survey of infrastructure employers to estimate the housing needs for teachers, firemen, paramedics, utility workers and other essential infrastructure workers.
Quality, Affordable Homes for Working Families on Orcas Island
A Pilot Project of the Orcas Research Group, February 20, 2004.
San Juan County Workers
Document in Powerpoint Format
This is the presentation given on April 6, 2005 at the Orcas Island Town Hall Meeting on housing.
Housing Summit Presentation, June 4, 2005
Document in Powerpoint Format (2.3MB)
This is the first public airing of recommendations to address moderate and middle income housing affordability.
Independence Day Parades, Orcas and San Juan, July 4, 2005
Questions and Answers Relating to the Land Bank, November, 2005

Affordable Housing: What are other communities doing?, November 8, 2005

A Home Ownership Story
Document in Word Format
If you think that housing is not a problem in San Juan County, let me introduce you to John and Mary.
Survey of Voter Intent, December 3, 2005
Document in Word Format

Progress on the (Affordable) Home Front, February 16, 2006
Document in PDF Format

Tax Alternatives for Affordable Housing in San Juan County, March 4, 2006
Document in Word Format

Concert for Affordable Housing, April 2, 2006

The Debate in the Guardian:
Do we need a San Juan County Housing Bank?
Paul Losleben vs. Albert Hall, March 2006

Documents in Word Format:
We Are Facing a Crisis in Affordable Housing
Crisis in Affordable Housing: Search for Financial Solutions
Crisis in Affordable Housing: Search for Public Policy Solutions
Crisis in Affordable Housing: What is the Housing Bank and How Will it Work?
Crisis in Affordable Housing: Looking to the Future.

Bulletins...Bulletins...Bulletins
- Bulletin #15 Common Concerns, November 30, 2005
- Bulletin #14 Culture and Community, November 5, 2005
- Bulletin #13 Market Facts, October 16, 2005
- Bulletin #12 What Works?, September 30, 2005
- Bulletin #11 Shared Equity, September 16, 2005
- Bulletin #10 Home Ownership, August 31, 2005
- Bulletin #9 Another Look at Affordable Housing, August 16, 2005
- Bulletin #8 Quantifying the Need, July 31, 2005
- Bulletin #7 Why a Commission?, July 16, 2005
- Bulletin #6 A Local Mortgage Company, June 30, 2005
- Bulletin #5 Housing Summit Report, June 16, 2005
- Bulletin #4 What If?, June 1, 2005
- Bulletin #3 Who is to Blame?, May 16, 2005
- Bulletin #2 A Typical Family, May 4, 2005
- Bulletin #1 Housing for Working Families, June 16, 2005
Fact Sheets and Mailers
Work Plan:
- Continue working with local organizations to find approaches to meet affordable housing needs.
- Build a favorable relationship with county planning and permitting.
- Continue to monitor the potential market including teachers, firefighters, EMTs, and law officers.
- Keep information on housing statistics up to date.
- Continue to monitor public acceptance of project
- ...
- Review lessons learned
Work Partners: We are proceeding in collaboration with OPAL and other county affordable housing organizations to complement their work with lower income families.
Importance to the Community:
With a median cost of over $600,000 on Orcas Island, affordable housing represents a serious problem for working families. With a median salary of only slightly over $29,000 per year, many families, even with two wage earners, are unable to qualify for a conventioual mortgage. Affordable housing projects utilizing state and federal grants have been effective in providing housing for household income levels of less than 80 percent of median income, leaving a gap in housing affordability between 80 percent and roughly 120 percent of median income per family size. We believe that this is a primary cause of a migration of working families to the mainland where housing is more affordable and job opportunities are more diverse. Indeed, the percentage of our population in the 25 to 44 year age groups has declined over the last decade from 30% (typical of the USA and Washington State) to only 20% in 2003.
Related Work:
Fact Sheet The Housing Affordability Crisis in San Juan County, San Juan County Planning Department SEPTEMBER 30, 2002.
Website for the San Juan Housing Bank

Additional Reading

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Last updated 10/06/07