League of Women Voters affordable housing panel discusses county issues

The League of Women Voters of San Juan Island held a panel discussing affordable housing in the county and featured speakers from the community with hands-on experience. The panel drew in around 50 people to the Grange Hall Sept. 21.

By Anna V. Smith • September 21, 2015 6:13 pm
The Salal neighborhood is the first built by SJC Home Trust and has twelve houses altogether.
The Salal neighborhood is the first built by SJC Home Trust and has twelve houses altogether.

The League of Women Voters of San Juan Island held a panel discussing affordable housing in the county and featured speakers from the community with hands-on experience. The panel drew in around 50 people to the Grange Hall Sept. 21.

Sarah Crosby, program chair for LWVSJ, opened the panel and set the stage for the conversation to come. Crosby explained the purpose of the panel was to help understand the extent of the affordable housing issues in the county, and cited the “mounting anecdotal evidence” of people moving off-island due to the housing shortage, as well as employers having difficulties finding enough employees.

“Are we in danger of becoming like Nantucket, who have to fly people in for essential services on the island?” Crosby asked the audience.

Greg Winters, Director of the Homeless Services Center of the Opportunity Council in Bellingham and leader of that agency’s community needs assessment for San Juan and other counties, began the panel by giving some statistics from the Washington State Housing Needs Assessment for the county in 2015. One particularly worrying statistic stated that 85 percent of the 200 subsidized affordable housing units in the county would be expire by 2017.

Winters also discussed the fundamental aspect of affordable housing in a community, comparing it to other cornerstones such as roads and utilities to ensure a thriving, healthy community.

A short preview was given of the 2015 San Juan Prosperity Project data that will be released in October, detailing issues of housing and poverty in San Juan County.

Other speakers on the panel were Nancy DeVaux, Executive Director of the San Juan Island Home Trust and Chair of the County’s Housing Bank Commission, Justin Roche, Executive Director of Homes for Islanders, and Lisa Byers, Executive Director of OPAL on Orcas Island.

Also in attendance were Jennifer Armstrong of the San Juan Island Family Resource Center, Director of Community Development Sam Gibboney, SJC Affordable Housing Coordinator Melanie Rollins, and county council chairman Bob Jarman.

Tom Munsey recorded the panel, available on YouTube by searching LWVFH, or by visiting sjmedia.org.