PORT ANGELES — Clallam County has adopted housing and growth allocations for the next 20 years, with projected numbers of new housing units that will be needed for the three cities, six unincorporated urban growth areas and the unincorporated rural areas of the county.
Clallam County is projecting the population to be about 86,700 people by 2045, a 7,241-person increase over the 2025 population estimate.
“It seems plausible from the standpoint of what we’re looking at,” county Director of Community Development Bruce Emery said. However, “it is a crystal ball, at best.”
Based on this projection, the county is required to have housing projection needs for all income segments, including units for moderate, low, very low and extremely low-income households.
The county is predicting that Forks will require 145 additional housing units for those between 0 and 30 percent area median income (AMI), 92 housing units for those between 30 and 50 percent AMI, and 62 housing units for all the combined categories above 50 percent AMI.
Port Angeles is projected to need 963 housing units for those between 0 and 30 percent AMI, 605 housing units for those between 30 and 50 percent AMI, and 502 housing units for all the combined categories above 50 percent AMI.
Sequim likely will need 903 housing units for those between 0 and 30 percent AMI, 568 housing units for those between 30 and 50 percent AMI, and 379 housing units for those above 50 percent AMI.
There also are housing needs projected for the six urban growth areas (UGAs) in the county, as well as the remainder of the non-urban county areas.
Rural areas, like Clallam, are not required to accommodate very low to extremely low-income housing (0 to 50 percent AMI) in rural areas, but instead can accommodate those housing needs in UGAs and incorporated cities, Emery said.
“These allocations do not create an obligation on the county or cities with respect to the construction of housing or other amenities but are for informational purposes and only represent a first step in the analysis and issues identification process required under the periodic update,” the county’s resolution read.
“We can create the space for them to be built,” Emery said. “It still is dependent, obviously, largely on the private sector to do the building. There’s a whole lot more work that has to be done to create the incentive environment to make that happen.”
The growth and housing allocations are the foundational block that other aspects of the comprehensive plan will be built on, including things like land use and capacity and employment forecast analysis.
“This is instrumental in determining land need, density, economic growth, utility and capital facility needs,” Emery said. “This is the first part of a whole range of study that has to be done.”
The projected housing needs are required as part of the periodic update of the 20-year comprehensive plan, which must be completed by the end of next year.
To develop the projections, the county’s department of community development met with planning staff from Forks, Port Angeles and Sequim and relied on data provided by the state Department of Commerce (DOC) as well as the DOC’s housing for all planning tool.
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Reporter Emma Maple can be reached by email at emma.maple@peninsuladailynews.com.
