Sandy Thompson gives a good deal on a home to keep it affordable for good.

Long-time islander Sandy Thompson approached OPAL a year ago with thoughts about a house she owned and rented to others near Obstruction Pass.

She was ready for a change that would relieve her of landlord duties and expenses. She hoped to continue receiving some income from the property and also to assure the house remained affordable for longtime islanders.

How, she wondered, might this be accomplished?

Thompson had several goals: assure the home is never a transient rental; assure the house remains affordable for long-term islanders who are not wealthy; and earn some regular income from the property.

As a supporter of OPAL, Thompson recognized the organization could steward the land and assure the home was permanently affordable.

But she wasn’t as certain about OPAL’s ability to help her earn some income. After meeting with Lisa Byers, OPAL executive director, each felt motivated to invent something that would satisfy all those desires.

What resulted is what Byers describes as a four-way, “win-win-win-win” situation. Thompson sold the land and house to OPAL for 40 percent less than its market value (the reduction is a charitable donation).

OPAL will pay Thompson for the property over a 20-year period.

OPAL, in turn, leased the land and sold the home to a moderate income purchaser at a price he could afford – the proceeds from that sale will be invested in order to make the payments to Thompson. The home will remain permanently affordable, because OPAL’s land lease includes a resale formula that sets the future sales price at an affordable level.

Thompson “wins” by achieving all of her goals from the outset, including a charitable donation.

The new owner “wins” because he is able to afford a home that otherwise he could not have purchased.

The community “wins” by gaining another much-needed permanently affordable home – this one affordable for moderate and middle income households.

And finally, OPAL wins because it achieved its mission in a creative manner that did not require grant writing or fundraising.

OPAL paid for transaction costs and made some repairs and improvements to the house prior to reselling it.

Thompson is the first person to leave a legacy gift of a permanently affordable home for future generations of islanders. OPAL hopes she won’t be the last.

Byers notes, “This was an opportunity for OPAL to respond in a creative way. We achieved our mission, while also meeting the needs of a community member who supports our mission. We would be delighted to have other transactions similar to this. We are willing to find innovative solutions for potential sellers who see value in the community land trust model.”

OPAL is currently engaged in long-range planning up to the year 2020. “It appears to us that the need for affordable housing on Orcas is going to keep growing, and that the cost of meeting that demand is going to outstrip our ability to finance our work with grants and annual gifts from generous islanders,” Allen Smith, OPAL president, adds. 

“We are looking at various alternative funding strategies, and analyzing what impacts they might have on our core mission. Among the new models are legacy giving (the OICF Endow Orcas activities), partnerships with private developers, tax-based income, targeted green building grants and market-based sources.

This creative approach Thompson and Byers developed is one of many we’d like to see emerging for consideration – especially for those who want to help sustain economic diversity on the island.”

Thompson adds, “I’d had it with landlording. And the rent I needed to charge had grown higher than most Orcas renters could pay. If I sold my rental, which was next door, it would likely become a vacation rental, and I prefer long-term neighbors. Employing creative approaches from the Leadership San Juan Islands program, I figured my income needs and other concerns, and contacted OPAL, who was welcoming and flexible.

“Now, I have guaranteed income for many years, our neighborhood is enhanced, OPAL has another property, and there’s a new path for current and potential homeowners. I feel really good about how this all turned out.”

The Thompson acquisition is considered a scattered site home that OPAL adds to its list of permanently affordable residences. This brings the total to 59 homes and seven rental apartments under OPAL’s stewardship.

Eighteen more houses are under construction at Wild Rose Meadow and 14 more could be started there as soon as 2009.

OPAL hopes to purchase Lavender Hollow in 2009, which would add 22 more rental apartments.