PORT ANGELES — The Peninsula Housing Authority will receive a $300,000 American Rescue Plan Act grant from Clallam County for its mutual self-help building program that was impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Clallam County Commissioners approved the funding on Tuesday. The funds will reimburse the housing authority for its expenses and must be spent by Dec. 31, 2024.
“The ARPA funding received by the PHA (Peninsula Housing Authority) from Clallam County will cover the (USDA Rural Development grant) shortfall and allow us to complete the next 12 homes in our pipeline,”wrote PHA Executive Director Sarah Martinez in an email.
“The funds from the county were vital to the continuation of a very successful and important housing program in our community,” she said.
The challenges the PFA faced have ranged from construction site closures due to the governor’s proclamations, the illness itself impacting participants, staff turnover and lack of applicants, supply chain issues, the increased cost to do business, and the time it is taking to construct the homes as construction materials and services can be delayed for months,,, she said.
The mutual self-help building program is funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Rural Development section. It helps low-income families build new single family homes.
Participating families must contribute 32 hours per week working on their home and their neighbors’ homes in lieu of a down payment.
Martinez said in a later interview that the funding is necessary because the program receives USDA grant money that requires them to build a set number of self-help homes within two years.
Delays and cost increases caused by the COVID-19 pandemic meant the agency still was spending money but wasn’t getting houses built, putting it in danger of violating its USDA grant, she said.
“This funding will cover that period of time when we are spending money without building houses. We anticipate starting to request the funds in March 2023 and have them fully expended by March 2024,” Martinez said.
According to a memo to the county commissioners, a 377 percent increase in lumber prices during the pandemic meant that $50,000 worth of lumber could build only 2.5 single family homes in May 2021 versus 10 in May 2020. The sharp cost increase caused a temporary halt to the mutual self-help building program.
COVID-19 illnesses also caused unavoidable construction delays, increasing the average build time from 12-15 months to 24 months, according to the commissioners memo. The six other counties in the state with similar programs also have seen their average build time increase to 24 months, it said.
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Reporter Brian Gawley can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 55650, or at brian.gawley@soundpublishing.com.
