Submitted by OPAL.
On the recently acquired Pea Patch Lane property, OPAL Community Land Trust will provide permanently affordable rental housing with dedicated, supportive services for people currently living in marginal or unhoused situations. The 20 one- and two-bedroom townhomes will be available to Orcas Islanders with very low incomes and include a dedicated on-site support staff person to assist seniors, those exiting homelessness, and islanders with special needs such as disabilities, recovery from substance abuse or survivors of abuse.
This is an evolution from a type of housing and services that OPAL and the Orcas Community Resource Center already provide on Orcas. There are nine apartments at April’s Grove that are designated to serve islanders with similar backgrounds and needs. OPAL currently has an agreement with the Orcas Community Resource Center to provide supportive services, but the Pea Patch homes will have a half-time staff person from the Resource Center dedicated to providing supportive services to the renters residing in the Pea Patch homes.
OPAL is collaborating with the Resource Center and the Orcas Island Food Bank to develop the Pea Patch Community Campus, where, in addition to the new rental housing, the Resource Center and Food Bank will increase their ability to serve islanders in new buildings that are walking distance to town and the new homes.
Housing with supportive services is defined by Washington state law as “subsidized, leased housing with no limit on length of stay that prioritizes people who need comprehensive support services to retain tenancy and utilizes admissions practices designed to lower barriers to entry.” “Supportive Services” include facilitating access to health care and counseling, administering peer-support programs, offering financial literacy training, assisting with employment, and other programs that help people stay connected to the community.
Orcas Island’s households who are homeless include many seniors who find, as they age, that housing situations that were once acceptable (structures that require chopping wood for heat, lack of indoor plumbing, “work-trade” arrangements that rely on physical labor) are no longer feasible. Low-income and marginally housed households include many workers whose full-time wages are too low to afford market rate housing and who are unable to find housing due to the severe shortage of rental housing and are often living on couches, in cars, boats or RVs, and lack basic amenities such as bathrooms, kitchen facilities and showers.
The San Juan County 10-year Plan to End Homelessness, updated in 2023, identified the development of additional permanently affordable rental housing for families who are homeless in San Juan County as Housing Strategy #1, the top priority. A 2022 study by the Coalition to End Homeless on Orcas Island identified more than 50 individuals who meet the definition of homeless or marginally housed. Washington State has awarded the project a $10.9M grant through the Department of Commerce’s Housing Trust Fund.
The Pea Patch Community Campus is currently in the design phase and expects to begin the permitting process this fall. Site work could begin as soon as fall 2025 with construction of the housing to follow in 2026. Construction of the Resource Center and Food Bank buildings will likely follow soon after.
Once the townhomes are built, OPAL will contract with Ad-West Realty to manage the housing, as they do for three of OPAL’s five rental neighborhoods. Full eligibility criteria are pending, but rents, with all utilities included, are projected to range from $485/mo for a studio apartment (for a household of one with annual income up to $21,350/year) to $1,038/mo for a two-bedroom apartment (for a household of two with annual income up to $40,600/year). Ad-West Realty will solicit for applications when construction is nearing completion.
