PORT ANGELES — Clallam County commissioners reviewed two funding applications that would help pay for rehabilitating a house in Sequim for permanent supportive housing and help build a similar 26,000-square-foot, 36-unit apartment complex in Port Angeles.
The commissioners will consider the two funding requests during their next regular meeting, set for 10 a.m. April 16 in the commissioners’ meeting room at the Clallam County courthouse, 223 E. Fourth St. in Port Angeles.
Peninsula Behavioral Health is seeking $250,000 in funding to help rehabilitate a five-bedroom permanent supportive housing group home at Fifth Avenue and Fir Street in Sequim.
PBH also is seeking $1.25 million in 2024 and $750,000 in 2025 to help develop the 36-unit permanent supported housing apartment complex on Second and Oak streets in Port Angeles.
“We outgrew that office space (at Fifth and Fir streets in Sequim),” said Wendy Sisk, executive director of Peninsula Behavioral Health. “It’s been sitting empty for a year. We relocated diagonally across the intersection.”
She said the empty house used to be PBH offices and the intent is to “return it to its former glory” as a home and expand it to have five bedrooms and two bathrooms compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act.
“The intent would be to take it out to bid,” Sisk said. “We have a bid package almost ready to go. We’re just waiting for approval of funding.
“And the intent would be to house five single adults with a focus on identifying people who are currently unsheltered and need additional support to be successful in housing. And eventually help those people go into other permanent supportive housing.”
PBH requires residents of its supportive living homes to be active in treatment when they move in, and they do not allow people with a recent history of significant violence, sex offenders or people with a history of arson, she said.
Construction would begin in the first week of June and finish by the end of July or mid-August at the latest, Sisk said.
“The city of Sequim thinks this is a real win to have the county making this investment inside the city of Sequim,” she said.
Supportive housing
The second project is a 36-unit permanent supportive housing complex at Second and Oak streets in Port Angeles, said Timothy Dalton, Clallam County housing and grant resource director.
“This one is going to take a multitude of levels of financing,” he said. “It is preliminarily looking at about a $12.5 million project.”
Sisk said if everything goes right, the building should be done in December 2025.
The project began with a $750,000 community donation from a community member after the agency provided care to someone the person cared about, she said.
“PBH has never seen that sort of generosity before,” Sisk said. “It has kind of taken us aback. We want to make them proud.”
The agency was offered $200,000 from the Americas Foundation, a $40,000 grant from Enterprise and $1 million that’s already been committed from the community, Sisk said.
“It’s our hope to see this $2 million from the county that then will be leveraged toward other dollars,” she said. “We have a verbal commitment from the city somewhere between $500,000 and $800,000, plus $100,000 in infrastructure funds.
“We’ve applied for federal appropriations dollars from both (U.S. Rep. Derek) Kilmer and (U.S. Sen. Maria) Cantwell’s office. And we’ll hope to see an award from one of those two funding sources. We’ll be applying for a $5 million Apple Health and Homes low-interest deferred payment loan,” she said.
PBH’s capital campaign will begin after its gala in May, Sisk said.
The project will be reviewed by the three county commissioners and the Housing Solutions Committee in January 2025 to ensure it is on track, she said.
The complex will have four two-bedroom apartments, eight studios and the rest will be one-bedroom units, Sisk said.
“We really are shooting at 30 to 50 percent (area median income) for all the rest of our units. Probably 34 units at 50 percent AMI or below. Hold out two or three units at market rate for those seeking affordable housing without income restrictions,” Sisk said.
The AMI for Clallam County was $66,108 in 2022, so those levels would equal to $19,382 to $33,054 annually.
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Reporter Brian Gawley can be reached by email at brian.gawley@peninsuladailynews.com.
