A Habitat for Humanity development in Port Townsend received a visit from state-level officials on Friday, Nov. 17, a day after millions of dollars in grants were announced.
The grants are intended to help meet statewide needs for affordable housing across all income levels.
Port Townsend City Manager John Mauro praised everyone present for their contributions to “rethinking residential capacity,” even as he acknowledged that “we all still have a lot of work that we know we need to do,” in a 7-square-mile town with nearly 90 miles of roads.
“We’re the most unaffordable city in the state for housing, ahead of even Mercer Island,” Mauro said. “And Jefferson is the second-most unaffordable county in the state, after San Juan.”
Robert Collins serves as director of construction, land and strategy for East Jefferson Habitat. He pointed out how local developments such as Landes North have been made possible by cooperation with not only the city of Port Townsend, but also those properties’ neighbors, which has enabled Habitat to increase its housing density.
“A lot of the same folks who initially said they couldn’t stand duplexes are looking at what got built, and saying they want something like that now,” Collins said.
