Workforce housing committee forms review panel, discusses $30 million senior housing project and funding options
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Summary
The Workforce Housing Committee in Port Angeles proposed a re‑application review committee to review requests from Peninsula Housing Authority and Serenity House, discussed a 60‑unit Mount Angeles View senior building estimated at $30 million TDC, and debated application timing, local matching and federal USDA loan changes affecting self‑help housing.
The Workforce Housing Committee convened in Port Angeles to review two reapplications for county housing funds and to discuss how to prioritize scarce local dollars for multiple projects.
Committee member (S4) proposed creating a re‑application review committee to evaluate an application from Peninsula Housing Authority (Eklina Gales) and a $1,000,000 request from Serenity House, naming McAleer as chair and a panel of workforce‑housing reviewers to meet on Friday the 20th at 9:00 a.m. The committee approved the meeting agenda and the prior month’s minutes by voice motion earlier in the session.
Sarah (S11), a development presenter, said the Mount Angeles View senior facility on Lauridsen will shift from an earlier 33‑unit plan to a 60‑unit phase and that the team will pursue a straight 9% Low Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) strategy alongside Housing Trust Fund and local match requests. “The 30,000,000 is total cost to develop,” she said, adding hard construction costs are “around 21 and a half million” and that predevelopment expenses are roughly $1.5 million.
Committee members pressed for detail on per‑unit costs. “That’s $500,000 a unit, which seems like more than what it cost in the past,” Committee member (S5) said, asking what was driving the increase. Sarah attributed much of the change to higher construction and A&E fees, developer fees and LIHTC transaction costs; she said LIHTC pricing is currently coming in between about 0.77 and 0.83 on the dollar and that tax credit proceeds may cover roughly 60% of the project’s cost.
Sarah also warned of an immediate federal constraint affecting some home‑building programs: a Feb. 10 USDA procedural notice reduced area loan limits and removed a prior waiver authority, which she said will make future USDA Section 502 self‑help loans harder to use. “They have reduced the area loan limit by $94,000… and they are also saying there is no waiver,” Sarah said, and staff discussed pivoting to third‑party lending for projects that no longer fit the new limits.
Members debated whether the county should keep a rolling application policy for the local sales‑tax‑credit funds (referred to in materials as 14.06/15.90 funds) or adopt an annual window. Finance staff recommended not obligating funds the county does not have in the bank and suggested a 10% reserve be maintained; several members supported a single June application window to synchronize with state funding cycles. The group discussed bonding up to 50% of yearly allocations for very large projects but agreed that approach requires deeper fiscal analysis before a policy change.
No final allocations were made at the meeting; members asked staff and selected committee members to refine scoring criteria, confirm local match needs for the Mount Angeles View project and return with a draft application timetable and financial model for future action.
