Housing Specialist to hold forum, provide presentations

CHELAN – During the council’s February 27 meeting, an administrative recommendation from City Administrator Mike Jackson was brought forward, requesting the consideration of the Council to obtain the services of housing consultant Julie Brunner. The following meeting, March 13, council members unanimously agreed to contracting Brunner as a consultant on the affordable housing issues that are presently taking over Chelan.
Brunner comes ready with years of experience in the strategic planning and implementation. While contracted with Chelan, she will identify housing availability gaps and available solutions based on those needs assessments.
Monday, April 23 through Wednesday, April 25, Brunner will be in Chelan meeting with stakeholders, members of the community and city council members.
• City Council public information presentation, Tuesday, April 24 at 6:00 p.m. in Council Chambers.
• Casual community forum and presentation, Wednesday, April 25 at 6:00 p.m. at The Vogue. This event will allow for questions from the community or stakeholders to be answered and will provide information on making the idea of affordable housing in Chelan a reality.
Affordable housing committee member Rachael Goldie and Mayor Mike Cooney met with Lake Chelan Mirror staff for an informational overview on the need for Brunner’s services, the state of housing in Chelan, and what to expect from Brunner’s visit.
While the criteria within Brunner’s presentations are not yet identified, Goldie stated that, making an educated guess, the presentation would include possibly assessment statistics and information gathered from meeting with stakeholders and the community, as well as a conclusion as to which direction she recommends the City proceed in. With the presentation, “we can educate the public on what exactly the issue is, so they can give accurate feedback,” she suggested.
During Brunner’s social forum, Goldie explained that the committee and Brunner would like to hear the community’s struggles to find housing, their “anecdotal input, and what kind of housing they (the community) would like to see.” This information could come from anyone, whether it be an “employee, employer, or social service organization,” she explained, “all of that information will help direct what we want to do.”
“As Mayor, it’s my number one priority to see affordable housing get built,” began Mayor Cooney, “whether it’s single family homes or rentals or multifamily. I can’t think of another issue that rises above that. We could pretend that there was something more important, but without affordable housing, our town changes dramatically, and I think we should learn from the other resort communities that did not get on top of it, like we are. We’re not early in the game, but we are not too late.”
“Chelan is real right now, you walk to the post office, you see the people that you know each day. You go into a shop and you see people, and I think it’s a real town, but it’s changing. Pretty soon,” he expressed, “it’ll be all of the homes will be second-home owners. We don’t want it to be a divisive issue,” he strongly emphasized, clarifying that it is not the fault of second-home owners, “but we are trying to get a handle on this affordable issue.”
“The gap is growing from people that can’t afford to buy here and the people that can, and we’d like to see that slowed down a bit,” said Cooney, “and it’s everyone’s issue, whether you own a home or not,” he stated, “pretty soon, towns like ours find that you don’t have people working in the service industry, or people teaching your third grader, or taking x-rays up at the hospital, pretty soon you don’t have those people.” Even voluntarism is scarce in Chelan, voiced Goldie, “how many organizations do we have in town that (are struggling to keep afloat) because there’s no one that has time to volunteer due to them spending their time and energy on housing.”
Referring back to the January Town Hall Meeting on affordable housing, the presentation provided by Berk Consulting stated that 40 percent (approximately 800) of employees commute more than 25 miles to get to their place of employment within Chelan city limits. Of that 800, 433 employees commute 50 miles or more. “Think about it,” Cooney expressed, “the people that are commuting, it’s time away from their home, time away from their family, it’s extra gas … a lot of time the people that are having to commute are the ones that can least afford it.” Goldie went more in depth on the issue, explaining that commuting also means “less money spent here,” she said, “whether people are going to eat out or spend money on groceries, that money isn’t being spent here either,” she explained on the economic effect on the community from employees having to commute.
A community land trust is in the midst of being established as a foundation for the affordable housing project, however there is a dire need of donations to get the project off the ground. There is no public money being spent on this, explained Cooney, so to really get it off the ground, help is needed from everyone. Community members, home owners, second-home owners, land owners, everyone is needed. There is an immediate need for smaller donations, donations of any amount will help, he stated. But to really get going, we need the help of those who have the means to help with large donations or land for example.
The City currently has several ideas on making the affordable housing work permanently and are tossing around ideas that include a sliding-fee scale on general facilities, as well as already meeting with an assessor with Grant County to discuss the one-percent capping of property taxes on designated affordable homes.