PORT TOWNSEND — A proposal for a $14.5 million low-income housing project has received grant funding that could provide a foundation for moving forward.
Dale Wilson, the executive director for Olympic Community Action Programs (OlyCAP), called a nearly $3 million grant from the state Department of Commerce “the keystone” of success for the project at Seventh and Hendricks streets in Port Townsend.
The proposal aims to build 43 apartments — six studios, 18 one-bedroom units, 15 two-bedroom units and four three-bedroom units — for people who have incomes below 50 percent of the area median income, Wilson said.
“We’re really happy,” he said. “We’ve been doing a dance of joy for the past few days.”
If it’s successful, it would become Jefferson County’s first large-scale affordable housing project since 2006, when OlyCAP built the South Seven Senior Village in Port Hadlock, Wilson said.
Wilson and Kathy Morgan, OlyCAP’s housing and community development director, said the Department of Commerce made the announcement last week through its Housing Trust Fund.
Earlier housing grant
The $2.9 million grant is in addition to a $500,000 Affordable Housing Program grant the organization received from the Federal Home Loan Bank of Des Moines, Iowa.
“The housing team is over-the-top excited to be included in both the Federal Home Loan Bank and Housing Trust Fund awards,” Morgan said. “These financing resources establish a solid early financing foundation.”
Wilson, who called Morgan the visionary of the project, said the Federal Home Loan Bank grant was unexpected.
‘Ultra-competitive’
“It’s just really ultra-competitive money, and it’s available nationally,” he said.
“Originally they had sent us back a list of questions that was 2 1/2 pages long with small print on our application. We thought, ‘We’re not going anywhere,’ and we never heard anything after that.”
Now comes the bulk of the funding, a projected $10 million application pending with the state Finance Commission through low income housing tax credits.
Wilson said the tax-credit program typically waits to see which projects the state chooses for investments.
“They want to see what the housing trust fund did so they can match with the tax fund,” he said. “It really takes both those resources to make a project happen.
“Once you get selected for the Housing Trust Fund, then your odds of being selected by the Housing Finance Commission are really good.”
The application will be considered in January, and a decision likely will be made by late February or early March, Wilson said.
Funding also has been supported with separate $20,000 donations from the Port Townsend Kiwanis and Elks clubs, and a $10,000 individual contribution from David Harrah, Wilson said.
OlyCAP matched all three local donations dollar for dollar for a total of $100,000, he said.
Still, about $300,000 in local funds are needed, Wilson said. That will be the organization’s focus in the new year.
“That’s the next big step, when we get ready to build,” he said.
In addition to the 43 apartments, the proposal includes an early childhood education classroom and a childcare center, plus an on-site laundry and a common playground and recreational area.
The project includes apartments set aside specifically for the developmentally disabled, those living with behavioral and/or mental health conditions, families with children, or survivors of domestic violence.
“They’re looking at community,” Wilson said of the Department of Commerce. “In this case, we were a community they had not invested in for quite a few years. There had to be some acknowledgement of that.”
Wilson said once all of the funding is secured, there will be about a six-month process to form an incorporation and a limited-liability partnership, plus a “couple of new organizations.”
“Until people are moving in, there are no guarantees, but it looks really good at this point,” he said.
The proposal, which will include up to four ground-floor units as live/work art spaces, will incorporate local art into the design.
Discovery Behavioral Health, Safe Harbor and Olympic Neighbors have been partners for supportive services, and Kitsap Bank is the local sponsor of the Federal Home Loan Bank program.
Additional members of the project team include Philippa Nye and Mark Blatter of Ally Community Development, Poppi Handi of Third Place Design Architectural Coop and Richard Berg of Terrapin Architecture.
If the project stays on track, it could break ground next October or November, Wilson said.
“Conceptually, affordable housing is very simple,” Wilson said. “But in practice, it is confoundingly complex and competition for funding is very competitive.
“Obviously, we are not at the financing finish line, but we are rapidly moving toward it.”
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Jefferson County Managing Editor Brian McLean can be reached at 360-385-2335, ext. 6, or at bmclean@peninsuladailynews.com.
