PORT TOWNSEND — The Jefferson County commissioners approved more than $270,000 in grant funding to go to affordable and homeless housing projects.
The grants, approved Tuesday, are divided between four organizations and six proposals that were garnered by the county, the Affordable Housing Task Force and the Joint Oversight Board (JOB) in December, to use excess funds from the affordable and homeless housing tax funds.
A screening panel of task force members evaluated the eight submitted proposals, which had a combined total of more than $700,000 in requested funds, and recommended that three be fully funded. That left $60,000 unused, said Lizanne Coker, task force facilitator, during Tuesday’s meeting.
The JOB then took the $60,000 and recommended three of the remaining proposals be partially funded, Coker said.
A total of $60,000 comes from the county’s Fund 148, which is for affordable housing projects, and $213,660 comes from Fund 149, which is for homeless housing projects.
The three grant recipients under Fund 149 are the three that were recommended by the task force’s screening panel and are the fully funded projects, Coker said.
The grants from Fund 149 include $16,000 to Bayside Housing & Services for repairs to its property. They also included two grants valued at $15,000 and $182,660 for Pfeiffer House for transitional shelter for youth, according to commissioners’ documents.
Bayside Housing was approved to receive a second grant of $27,000 under Fund 148, which partially funds its request for $160,000 to assist with operating support for housing it oversees, board documents said.
Also under Fund 148 was a $6,000 grant to the Jefferson County Fair Association for repairs to the campgrounds, which have been damaged due to the homeless encampment there. The initial proposal asked for $30,727, according to commission documents.
The initial proposal for the fairgrounds was proposed as a joint application between the association and Olympic Community Action Programs (OlyCAP), but it was decided it would be better to go directly into the hands of the association to oversee repairs to the grounds such as laying gravel, Coker said.
Habitat for Humanity of East Jefferson County received the third grant under Fund 148 for $27,000, which partially funds its request for $60,000, according to commission documents.
The Habitat proposal is a 20-unit housing project that the organization is working on, and the grant funding will help with developing the property — such as putting utility lines in — that the organization purchased on Landes Street between 15th and 18th streets to place the 20 houses, said Jamie Maciejewski, Habitat for Humanity executive director.
The commissioners meeting and documents can be viewed at https://tinyurl.com/PDN-BOCCgrants.
________
Jefferson County reporter Zach Jablonski can be reached at 360-385-2335, ext. 5, or at zjablonski@peninsuladailynews.com.
