PORT ANGELES — There is no shortage of reasons it’s difficult to find affordable housing in Port Angeles, officials said during an Economic Development Corp. forum Wednesday.
Some on the panel referred to statistics, but for Mary Budke, executive director of the Boys &Girls Clubs of the Olympic Peninsula, the lack of housing is best illustrated by some of the children she serves.
She knows of at least 10 kids who go to the Boys &Girls Clubs who are homeless or are about to be homeless, she said.
She said often, people forget that when a family is homeless, there oftentimes are children involved, too.
Budke told the audience of about 100, which filled the Carver Room at the Port Angeles Library, about the 10 children she knows of who do not have homes.
“Some come from abuse, neglect, violence and addiction,” she said. “The one I talked to on Monday, none of that is in play.”
People with rent vouchers for $1,100 and $1,700 can’t find places to rent because “landlords are not taking vouchers,” she said.
“We can talk about percentages, but we’re talking about real kids who you will no doubt see in the community,” Budke said.
Chapman weighs in
State Rep. Mike Chapman, D-Port Angeles, said among the problems is that the housing market has gotten ahead of wages in Clallam County.
“We are an incredibly desirable place to live,” he said, adding that he talks to people who sold their homes in California to move to Port Angeles. “We’ve outpriced our community.”
He told the audience he sees cross-laminated timber, which can make it easy to quickly build affordable housing, as an opportunity. The problem now is that current regulations make it difficult to make CLT cost-effective and quick.
Kevin Russell, first vice president of the Building Industry Association of Washington, said one of the issues with creating new affordable housing is the regulations builders have to comply with.
Those regulations each add costs.
Among the most expensive to comply with is the stormwater requirements, he said.
“[The city] can’t give us the bro deal because we’re doing Housing Authority work,” Russell said. “We have to do stormwater management regardless of end user.”
Nathan West, the city’s director of community and economic development, said the city is working to revise city code where it can.
He said the city has been using new zoning overlays to create opportunities and to take advantage of existing infrastructure. West said Serenity House of Clallam County’s Maloney Heights permanent supportive housing apartments were successful because of a zoning overlay.
For many of Serenity House’s clients, among the top concerns is employment, said Doc Robinson, director of Serenity House.
He said the nonprofit was interested in purchasing the former Haggen building with the idea of creating a new store and training its clients in job skills. He hoped to create about 70 jobs, 30 of which would have been filled by Serenity House clients.
West said the city isn’t in a position where it can expand services and current resources are strained.
“It does come down to the median wage and the challenge community members face with paying utilities,” he said. “When we go to look at infrastructure expansion, it’s difficult to make any adjustments that are going to have a long-term impact on rates.”
West said the city needs to make infrastructure investments, such as stormwater infrastructure that would make it easier for properties to “plug into” existing infrastructure.
“Our Urban Growth Area needs a great deal of infrastructure improvements if we want to see development in the region,” he said.
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Reporter Jesse Major can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 56250, or at jmajor@peninsuladailynews.com.
