Hayden Homes outlines local workforce housing, launches company-funded giving program

Deb Flagan, vice president of Hayden Homes, told the City of College Place City Council on July 28 that the company has built in the Walla Walla Valley since 1998 and that just under 1,100 homes in the region include 360 in College Place. "We specifically build and purposely build in rural communities," Flagan said, adding that Hayden aims to provide workforce ownership housing that meets a community's area median income levels.

City staff member John Rickard presented municipal revenue estimates linked to recent single-family projects, saying "that equated to 210 new single family homes in our community alone, to the tune of... $2,634,000 worth of revenue," and breaking that figure into approximate contributions to current expense, sewer and water funds and permit fees. Flagan described Hayden's 1st Story nonprofit program that offers 0% down, 30-year no-interest loans to qualifying first-time buyers and said the company will discontinue the prior covenant approach and institute a new, company-funded "give as you go" contribution on new single-home sales.

Flagan also discussed construction costs, noting land is the largest barrier: she said a target $400,000 workforce house requires a roughly $80,000 lot under the company's cost assumptions, which she described as increasingly difficult to find in the valley. Council members thanked Hayden staff for the data and maps and asked how the city can support workforce housing; Flagan urged flexibility on lot sizes and zoning to allow smaller-lot, middle-market ownership products.