PORT TOWNSEND — The Port Townsend City Council unanimously approved merger of public housing agencies intended to give Jefferson County a better shot at expanding affordable housing stock and programs Monday.
Boards of both the Clallam and Jefferson County housing authorities already have approved the merger, which has been in the works since early this year.
County commissioners in both counties are fully supportive and scheduled to OK the merger later this month, said Pam Tietz, executive director of the Clallam County Housing Authority.
The law requires a city to be involved in the process whenever agencies consolidate, said City Attorney John Watts.
Port Townsend was chosen over Port Angeles because the merger primarily benefits Jefferson County and a new office will be located in Port Townsend.
New name
The renamed Peninsula Housing Authority will give the Clallam agency new responsibilities, Tietz said, namely expanding Jefferson’s programs. Nothing else will change.
The Clallam agency has been operating Jefferson County Housing Authority’s federal Section 8 rental subsidy voucher program, which serves about 140 families, since last year.
The Jefferson agency has had no local staff for quite some time, operating with only a volunteer board of directors.
The agency’s financial status was so shaky that several years ago it was deemed a troubled agency by the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development, or HUD, said David Rymph, chairman of Jefferson’s board.
HUD is a primary funding source for affordable housing programs.
The federal scrutiny, which predated Rymph’s service, led to downscaling of the local operation to save administrative costs, and contracting out for the voucher program service, first to the Bremerton Housing Authority and later to Clallam County.
Rymph said the merger is in keeping with HUD’s support for consolidation of services in low-population areas, a way to achieve economies of scale and other efficiencies.
Purchased apartments
The Jefferson agency also was able to improve its reputation with the successful recent purchase of the Port Hadlock Garden Court Apartments, which was about to go on the private market after 20 years of subsidized operation.
Typically, many affordable housing projects are financed through special tax breaks to developers and owners, and may go out of subsidized status after a pre-determined number of years.
The Jefferson authority was able to find backing and a partner to allow it to buy the complex and make $1.5 million worth of renovations, saving 38 units for low-income residents.
Such holding action has been the pattern in Jefferson County, said Judy Surber, the city planner with responsibility for affordable housing.
“Trying to hang on to what you’ve got has taken a lot of people’s energy,” said Surber.
A 2006 joint county and city study found there was a need for an additional 1,116 to 1,429 affordable housing units by 2024, Surber said, and a joint committee of agencies meets quarterly to work on options.
Grant sources for affordable housing projects give great weight to agencies with a history of success, Surber said, and it was Clallam’s successful track record that made the merger attractive to local officials.
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Julie McCormick is a freelance writer and photographer living in Port Townsend. Contact her at 360-385-4645 or juliemccormick10@gmail.com.