James Sandler, a Port Angeles resident, urged the Housing Solutions Committee to examine the causes of vacant houses and to consider measures that protect homeowners from problem renters while shaping local housing policy.

"I just walked down the street and I see empty house empty house empty house empty house," Sandler said, describing visible vacancies in Port Angeles and asking why owners leave homes empty instead of renting them. He also raised concerns about the cost and timeline for landlords to remove problematic renters in some cases.

Sandler questioned whether a policy focused primarily on minimum-wage housing will support the broader local economy. "The guy working at McDonald's isn't driving the economics here," he said, arguing that higher-income households are central to local economic activity and expressing concern about shifting fee structures that he said burden new single-family construction.

The comment period did not produce immediate committee action; committee members heard the concerns and later discussed workforce housing and tools such as lot splits, ADUs and infrastructure grants in separate agenda items.