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Peninsula housing authority spotlights barriers, land and partnerships as path to more affordable units
Summary
Agency officials and meeting participants prioritized Goal 1—developing and preserving affordable housing—identifying infrastructure, funding scale and staff capacity as primary constraints and recommending targeted land acquisition, partnerships and modest predevelopment spending to move projects into feasibility.
Agency official and a meeting participant spent the bulk of the session focused on Goal 1 of the authority's strategic plan: developing and preserving affordable housing across Jefferson and Clallam counties. The discussion centered on financing realities, realistic project scale, and near-term action items to prepare buildable projects.
The Agency official said the most viable path in rural areas is to find opportunities that match available funding and local infrastructure, noting that "60 to 70 is kind of the magic to score" for 9% low-income housing tax credit applications and that predevelopment costs for larger projects routinely reach six figures. She warned, "Doubling our portfolio, probably not gonna happen in 5 years," citing both limited staff capacity (about 0.375 FTE in development) and the competitive nature of tax-credit financing.
Participants explored alternatives to large tax-credit projects. The meeting participant raised smaller-scale options such as converting existing buildings and pursuing Opportunity Zone investment or rapid capital conversion grants, asking, "what about raising money for tiny houses and doing septic, you know, unseptic systems and small little clusters?" The Agency official acknowledged such models can work in some places but emphasized permitting, ongoing operations and long-term subsidy needs as limiting factors.
Both agreed that the housing authority should set a small number of concrete action items: pursue due diligence on priority parcels (Haines Street and a site near Garden Court), engage local governments to secure sewer and stormwater commitments, and convene a development team (architect, civil engineer) to produce feasibility analyses costing roughly $50,000–$75,000. The Agency official said she could leverage developer fees from other projects to fund predevelopment work and noted the authority can pursue 24-unit deals right now while positioning for larger projects when capital and policy conditions improve.
Why it matters: Rural jurisdictions face different financing thresholds than metro areas. The meeting produced specific next steps—land due diligence, stronger local government engagement on infrastructure, and a targeted feasibility budget—that, if executed, would put the authority in position to apply for state and federal funds when programs become available or more favorable.
What’s next: Participants agreed to pursue site-level due diligence on Haines Street and the Garden Court-adjacent parcel, to reach out to potential partners (Olycap, Habitat, local EDCs) and to assemble a small project team to produce cost estimates and pro forma scenarios for 24–60 unit projects.
