Three nonprofit organizations will receive millions of dollars from Island County to build affordable housing on Whidbey Island.
Island County commissioners earmarked $7 million of the $9.5 million the county received from the American Rescue Plan Act for affordable housing projects. They posted a request for proposals earlier this year and received 16 grant applications totaling nearly $22 million in requests.
At the Tuesday meeting, the commissioners approved the recommendations from a county committee that scored the different proposals on a variety of factors and interviewed applicants. Shelter Resources will receive $3.9 million for an 82-unit project in Oak Harbor, Habitat for Humanity will get about $2 million to buy 13 parcels for future housing projects and Goosefoot Community Fund was awarded just over $1 million for a 15-unit project on the edge of Langley.
Commissioner Melanie Bacon said the county received applications from many deserving organizations and there will be other funding opportunities in the future.
Commissioner Janet St. Clair said she was disappointed that none of the applications were for projects in her district, which covers North Whidbey and Camano Island. She pointed out that North Whidbey has some of the highest levels of housing instability and poverty in the county.
“So I’m going to expect that future proposals will have full representation of all three districts,” she said.
Shelter Resources, a Bellevue affordable housing developer, and the Opportunity Council, a community action agency serving low-income families and the homeless, are partnering on the Camas Flats project. In May, the commissioners awarded Shelter Resources a parcel of land on the north end of Oak Harbor for mixed-income affordable housing units. In addition to the county ARPA funds, the $29 million housing project will be financed with Low Income Housing Tax Credit Equity, Housing Trust Fund loans, tax exempt bond proceeds and a construction loan.
Construction is expected to begin in late 2023.
Habitat for Humanity of Island County, an affordable housing organization, plans to buy 13 build-ready parcels, 10 of which are located off Swantown Road in Oak Harbor and three on Walker Avenue north of Penn Cove. The parcels are part of planned unit developments and extensive pre-development work is already completed. The group plans to complete the remaining requirements needed to apply for Housing Trust Fund awards.
Goosefoot Community Fund, a South Whidbey charitable organization, requested $1.3 million but received $1.1 million. Last year, the group purchased two adjoining lots in Langley for a 15-unit project with a combination of two-bedroom and three-bedroom units. The grant from the county will fund pre-development costs, site work and utility infrastructure.
Other organizations that applied for money include Gifts From the Heart Food Bank, Home on Whidbey, the Port of South Whidbey, Whidbey Homeless Coalition and the city of Langley.
