PORT ANGELES — The Clallam County Board of Health heard Tuesday that there is still much to be done to address the North Olympic Peninsula’s housing crisis.
Board members heard that the county lacks enough housing and also lacks sufficient resources in case management for the homeless.
When asked about where best to invest money, Kevin Harkins, operations director at Serenity House of Clallam County, told officials to invest money into existing services, rather than trying to build something new.
“Support the one you’ve got,” he said. “We’ve got plenty of beds.”
He said there needs to be more funding for people in supporting positions who supervise programs and ensure safety in shelters.
Harkins said organizations need “supremely intelligent” people working housing cases because of their complexity.
“This is not a system that works just willy-nilly with social workers helping folks,” he said. “This is a science and it’s important to invest in that system and a systematic approach to solving homelessness.”
Harkins told the Board of Health that during the first quarter of 2018, Serenity House’s three emergency shelters have served a combined 221 households.
The single adult shelter has served 26 households; the family shelter has served 11 households; and the night-by-night shelter has served 184 households.
He said 479 households sought help through the Housing Resource Centers, 129 of which were served in the rapid rehousing program.
He said homelessness was presented for 78 households.
He told the board that Serenity House practices a “housing first” approach, but the reality is there isn’t enough permanent housing for people.
The idea, he said, is to get people into permanent housing and then focus on reducing their barriers.
He said that though Serenity House does serve some people from out of the area, including Jefferson County, Seattle and other parts of the country, the “majority of folks receiving our services are Clallam County residents.”
Kay Kassinger, executive director of the Peninsula Housing Authority, spoke of the lack of affordable housing and told the board that many who live in Clallam County spend more than a third of their income on housing.
The median income in Clallam County is $65,500 per family, according to the American Community Survey, she said, adding that 80 percent of median income is considered low-income.
“That’s a family of four that makes $52,000 a year,” she said. “That would translate to a person that is making $20 per hour in a one income household.”
Rent for that family would need to be about $800 before utilities for it to be considered “affordable,” she said.
Finding a home for a family of four with rent under $800 in Clallam County is difficult, she said, causing many to seek housing through the Peninsula Housing Authority.
She said what Peninsula Housing Authority primarily offers is subsidized housing based on income. There are also unsubsidized programs that have a “reasonable rent,” she said.
She said people generally don’t have the income to cover that “reasonable rent.”
“We currently average 200 people on every waiting list of housing that we own,” she said. “There’s a demand in the community that cannot be met.”
She said that while there’s plenty of demand for housing, people aren’t building in Clallam County. She said costs for building are about the same as they are in the Seattle area, but the rents the residences would yield in Clallam County are far less.
“That’s why private developers are building over there and not here — because they can charge enough rent to pay their debt,” she said.
Peninsula housing Authority is currently building 63 units, 13 of which will be set aside for homeless families with children.
She said that for many, getting them into housing isn’t enough to solve the issues that led to them being homeless in the first place.
“What we’ve seen with chronic homelessness is if they don’t have strong case management, they will not make it,” she said. “That’s the biggest challenge I see in the community is we don’t have enough resources in case management.”
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Reporter Jesse Major can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 56250, or at jmajor@peninsuladailynews.com.
