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Consultants present draft homeless-housing plan after 82 community meetings; county to get draft in June
Summary
A consulting team reported results from 82 meetings and a countywide review of housing and homelessness needs, laid out deficits in infrastructure, funding, and nonmarket housing, and said a draft plan will be delivered to the county in mid‑June with final material in July.
Consultants from the West + East Social Impact Studio told the Okanogan County Board of Commissioners that their outreach work produced a consistent set of barriers to housing and homelessness services and that the county will receive a draft plan in mid‑June and a final plan in July.
The consultants said their contract began in May of last year and, after extended state deadlines, allowed them to hold 82 stakeholder meetings across nine communities between May and November of last year. "We've gone to the 9 communities listed there and hosted meetings also between May and November," Scott Ackerson said during the presentation.
Why it matters: the draft will feed the county's required submission to the Washington State Department of Commerce and is intended both to satisfy the state template and to include county‑specific recommendations. The consultants told commissioners the county faces a combination of higher housing prices, aging housing stock, constrained water and sewer infrastructure, limited developer appetite for housing below 200% area median income (AMI), and strains from wildfire and short‑term rentals.
Key findings presented to the board included: - Outreach and administration: the county and local service providers lack capacity to identify and manage the grants commonly required to develop subsidized housing or operate programs that prevent homelessness. - Infrastructure limits: water and sewer capacity varies by municipality and constrains infill and new housing development; consultants said some projects require major up‑front infrastructure investment. - Affordability mismatch: the presenters told the board the private market in Okanogan County effectively begins to build for households at about 200% AMI, leaving households below that level reliant on subsidy or nonmarket housing. - Service and care gaps: the county lacks nearby secure involuntary treatment facilities, has limited detox and crisis resources, and relies on emergency services for many mental‑health or substance‑use crises.
Consultants also offered numbers used in their analysis: the point‑in‑time unsheltered and sheltered counts rose from 67 people in 2020 to 381 in 2024 (the presenters noted the count is an undercount but used it as a trend indicator), and they reported that the team held 82 stakeholder meetings. They flagged two upcoming Department of Commerce workshops — June 4 and June 12 — and said staff should register to obtain recordings.
Board response and next steps: commissioners asked for clarification on transportation links to services and for more granularity in the consultants' data about transit access and housing locations. The consultants said they will provide a draft in mid‑June for county review, produce a final report in July, and return to present the final plan. The consulting team will also provide a separate addendum with professional recommendations that will be kept distinct from the community‑reflective plan submitted to Commerce.
Speakers quoted in this article are taken from the meeting transcript and include Scott Ackerson and Catherine Dillard Gocelles of the consulting team and county commissioners in discussion during the presentation. The county staff and consultants agreed to circulate the draft to county staff when it is available and to schedule follow‑up presentations in July.
