SEQUIM — The Sequim city staff members are exploring possible homeshare programs.
The Sequim City Council unanimously agreed May 23 that staff should look into the concept of matching two or more people to share a home.
Council member Vicki Lowe has recommended the concept at council meetings in recent months.
Lowe said at the April 25 meeting that the University of Washington’s “Homeshare Study Policy Recommendations” was presented for a house bill that creates a home sharing support grant program.
Researchers write that homesharing “tackles two problems at once — assisting middle class people to hold on to their homes while extending vacant bedrooms to those who might otherwise fall into homelessness.”
In the study, Lowe said various agencies, such as those in Kitsap County, report it costs about $1,000 per match each year to conduct background checks, help set conditions for renting, do regular check-ins and help with any possible mediation.
“It’s not a homeless person but someone at risk (of homelessness),” Lowe said of who could participate in such a program.
In the study, researchers write that home matching programs can help rural communities “by lessening the burden on health care and public health systems.”
Lowe said it’s unclear how a local program would be funded in Sequim.
Assistant City Manager Charisse Deschenes said most of the programs city staff has researched so far operate without a city government’s direct involvement, but that they could investigate how a city could have input without financial stake.
At the April 25 meeting, Sequim Mayor Tom Ferrell said he prefers that the city not manage a program.
Solving the housing issue will require work on multiple facets, he pointed out.
“This puzzle is going to be a lot of pieces to make it work,” he said.
Council member Rachel Anderson said she prefers a third party agency to manage such a program. The right agency also could address other community concerns with wraparound services, she added.
Lowe said some agencies also address juveniles at risk of homelessness through homesharing programs.
Council member William Armacost expressed some concerns at the May 23 meeting about potential elder abuse in a retirement community, but Lowe said the programs pay a social worker to check in on homes to ensure no one is abused or taken advantage of in any way.
Council member Kathy Downer said at the same meeting the city does not want anything bad to happen to its residents and that they should explore partnering with a larger agency on homesharing. She added that the city does not intend to buy land for anyone.
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Matthew Nash is a reporter with the Olympic Peninsula News Group, which is composed of Sound Publishing newspapers Peninsula Daily News, Sequim Gazette and Forks Forum. Reach him at mnash@sequimgazette.com.
