Submitted by San Juan County.

San Juan County’s Home Fund is now in its seventh year of existence since voters approved it back in 2018. This program contributes funding towards the creation and preservation of affordable housing funded by a Real Estate Excise tax and a 1/10th of 1% sales tax. This spring, as construction season draws near, Housing Program staff are pleased to provide an update on Home Fund-related projects.

Home Fund

To date, the County has contributed over $13 million in funding to 13 affordable housing projects throughout the County. These projects represent 104 units of affordable housing that have already been built or preserved, with another 92 units currently in active development. In total, the County’s Home Fund has been able to contribute funding to 196 units of affordable housing.

“The total project costs for these projects are estimated to be about $80 million,” said the County’s Housing Coordinator Ryan Page. “That means for every dollar the community has committed to a project, another $5 in outside grants and private funding have been brought to our community for building affordable housing.”

Currently there are four projects that have received grants from the Home Fund that are in active construction with expected completion dates by the end of 2025. Two more projects which have received funding are in the pre-development phase including the Argyle project on San Juan Island and the Pea Patch project on Orcas.

In addition to locally provided funding, the County has been awarded $967,819 in Connecting Housing to Infrastructure Program grants for projects on Lopez, Orcas and San Juan islands. These grants from the Washington State Department of Commerce are available to offset the cost of utility infrastructure costs for affordable housing projects. The costs of utility infrastructure have been an identified barrier in the County to the construction of new affordable housing, and the existence of the Home Fund has played a significant role in the County and its partner’s success in applying for these grants.

“I want to make it clear that none of this housing would be possible without the County’s non-profit development partners on Lopez, Orcas and San Juan,” said Page. “One of the goals of the Home Fund is to deploy these funds as strategically as possible to our partners in an effort get housing built without creating unnecessary roadblocks.”

Primarily funded solely by the REET for affordable housing since its inception, the Home Fund now has another tool in its toolbox – the 1/10th sales tax for affordable housing adopted by Council in 2023. The 2024 funding round was the first to include this new additional funding. But contributing to construction costs of affordable housing development is not the only use of this fund.

Beginning in 2025, a portion of the sales tax will be used to fund housing case management services through the resource centers on each island. This funding will enhance the ability of the resource centers to meet the increasing needs of housing-insecure households in our community and connect eligible households to appropriate programs and services.

“I’m really proud of our housing programs and the work staff are doing to connect with local partners and strive to meet the needs of our community,” said HCS Director Mark Tompkins.

For more information, visit www.sjchomefund.com.