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HomeMy WebLinkAboutPublic Hearing Comments as of 0430pm on 120825Last updated Name (optional) Email (optional) Do you work, live, or own a business in City Limits? Type of public commen t If Agenda item, please state which one.Public comment Written public comment is limited to 2350 characters (with spaces). If you exceed this amount, you will be unable to submit this form until your comment is 2350 characters or less. Is your written public commen t for a Public Hearing? If so, what is the subject of the Public Hearing? Mon Dec 08 2025 16:22:00 GMT- 0800 (Pacific Standard Time) Cendre Hunt info@well- organized. org Work in Port Townsen d City Limits Agenda item specific 5 year plan I’m Cendre Hunt and I work with Well Organized. I am submitting comment in support of adopting the 2025-2030 Homeless and Affordable Housing Services Plan, with a call around equity in implementation. The plan shows that 650 to 700 households in Jefferson County experience housing instability each year, and 120 to 150 people are unsheltered in any given season. Local rents have risen around 45% over the past decade while wages have not kept pace. That widening gap is the primary driver of homelessness. This matches what people with lived experience and service providers see daily. I see it every day in my work. Within my first year living and working in Port Townsend, I was working over 60 hours a week and still became homeless because there was no affordable housing. Today my partner and I both work full time in Port Townsend serving this community, and we still cannot afford to live here. That is not an individual failing. It is a systemic failure. I want to uplift two comments submitted for this hearing. One emphasized year round day services and a supported encampment response. Another highlighted permanently affordable homeownership and critical repair. These align with the needs documented in the plan and what community members have consistently voiced. The plan shows most people experiencing homelessness fall under 30% or 50% of area median income. At those income levels, even moderate income units are out of reach. Without enforceable affordability tied to those brackets, increased density or zoning changes will not serve the people most impacted. Voluntary incentives have not produced meaningful units at these levels. Implementation must do better. I strongly support a “no displacement without housing” standard. Clearing encampments without viable alternatives increases instability, trauma, and cost. HB 1220 and the Growth Management Act require planning for extremely low income residents and people experiencing homelessness and reducing displacement risk. A no displacement standard aligns with those responsibilities. Adopting this plan is necessary, but effectiveness requires implementation aligned with the data, including enforceable affordability tied to growth, permanent options, expanded prevention, accessible units, and shared decision making with people who have lived experience.Yes 5 year plan Mon Dec 08 2025 13:34:00 GMT- 0800 (Pacific Standard Time) Tonia Burkett tonia.burke tt@gmail.c om Live in Port Townsen d City Limits Agenda item specific homeless and affordabl e housing plan I strongly support the commitment to a year-round day center, a lived, expert-guided encampment response, and strong prevention tools such as tenant protections, mediation, and recognition of informal housing residents’ rights. These are essential for stabilizing people before they fall deeper into crisis. As both the City and County move forward with rezoning and development decisions, I would like you to ensure that any increase in density is tied to mandatory, permanent affordability. Voluntary incentives like the Multi-Family Tax Exemption are helpful, but they do not reach the people currently unhoused without deeper affordability requirements. I also respectfully ask you to adopt a clear “no displacement without housing” standard, so no one is removed from an encampment or informal housing situation without first being offered a safe, voluntary, and supported housing option. Finally, compensating lived experts is a strong step, but equity requires shared decision-making power, not just consultation. People with lived experience are experts in how housing, homelessness, health, and safety systems actually function in real life. Without their leadership and decision-making power, policies risk being well-intentioned but ineffective, harmful, and disconnected from the realities they aim to address. This plan has strong values, but values alone will not keep people housed or safe. We need enforceable protections, mandatory affordability, and housing-first implementation so these commitments result in tangible outcomes for those bearing the heaviest burden of this crisis. No Mon Dec 08 2025 13:26:00 GMT- 0800 (Pacific Standard Time) Cameron Jones permiejone s@gmail.c om Live in Port Townsen d City Limits Agenda item specific III- 5 year plan My name is Cameron Jones. I was on the Housing Task Force that developed this plan. I strongly support adopting the plan with some amendments. The plan identifies that 650 to 700 households experience housing instability each year in Jefferson County, and 120 to 150 people are unsheltered in any given season. Local rents have increased by roughly 45 percent over the past decade while wages outpace this. The widening gap between income and housing costs is the primary driver of homelessness. These numbers reflect what service providers and people with lived experience see daily. I want to uplift two comments for this hearing. Tonia Burkett emphasized year round day services and a consistent, supported encampment response model. Habitat for Humanity highlighted permanently affordable homeownership and critical repair programs. Both align with the needs documented in the plan and with what the Task Force heard throughout the process. The plan shows that most people experiencing homelessness fall under 30 percent or 50 percent of area median income. At these income levels, even new moderate income or workforce units are not accessible. Without enforceable affordability requirements tied to these income brackets, housing created through rezoning or increased density will not reach the populations most affected by the crisis. Voluntary incentives have not produced units at these levels in meaningful numbers. I also support establishing a no displacement without housing standard. Clearing encampments without real alternatives increases instability and long term public costs. While HB 1220 and the Growth Management Act do not prescribe a specific displacement rule, both require jurisdictions to plan for and accommodate the housing needs of extremely low income residents and people experiencing homelessness, and to reduce displacement risk. A no displacement standard is the approach most aligned with those requirements as it ensures residents are not excluded from the community for lacking housing. Adopting this plan is necessary. The results will come from implementation aligned with the data: enforceable affordability requirements tied to growth, expanded prevention programs, increased permanent options, and shared decision making power for people with lived experience.Yes 5-Year Homeless and Affordable Housing services plan Mon Dec 08 2025 13:06:00 GMT- 0800 (Pacific Standard Time) Kellen Lynch kellen@oly mpichousi ngtrust.org Live in Port Townsen d City Limits Agenda item specific 5 Year Housing Services Plan As interest grows towards expanding the current MFTE policy of voluntary inclusionary housing towards a fee in-lieu policy as a market solution in Port Townsend, I will point towards the 5 Year housing services plan developed by the Housing Task Force. This report should inform the City's comp plan. On Page 38, Action 5.B.2 reads, "Evaluate a broad range of AH market and non-market supply strategies for their applicability to Jefferson County context, including Inclusionary Zoning, Permanent Affordability, Funded Inclusionary Zoning, and Community Housing. Issue a report with strategy recommendations." Similarly Action 5.B.4 reads, "Recommend implementing a Jefferson County MFTE program and expand the existing Multi-Family Tax Exemption ( MFTE) program in Port Townsend to include additional types of middle housing, a larger geographic area, an extended exemption timeline, and increased eligibility for community partners" There exists many sources of historic data on inclusionary housing policies dating back to the 1970s. I can recommend many studies, but one comprehensive study (that focuses on rural) is from the journal of Architecture, City and Environment from the California Coalition for Rural Housing published in 2007. It's titled, "INCLUSIONARY HOUSING IN SMALL TOWNS AND RURAL PLACES: THE CALIFORNIA EXPERIENCE" This study lays out what makes an effective program, including what they call "unattractive fee alternatives", which doesn't 'mandate' the policy, but heavily encourages it with a fee in-lieu program, akin to the City of Sammamish policy I have also put forth previously for consideration. I look forward to helping the City and County design their policies to help leverage the market demand of our land towards our local need for housing. Yes Comp Plan From:Wendy Housekeeper To:Alyssa Rodrigues Subject:FW: Re: Public Testimony Date:Monday, December 8, 2025 10:32:16 AM Attachments:Habitat EJC Public Comment Homeless Housing Plan.pdf JC Homeless and Affordable Housing Services Plan.docx CAUTION: External Email I think you have this, but I also wanted you to see the email below. Thanks, Wendy From: vikis <vikis@ecopraxis.org> Sent: Monday, December 8, 2025 9:08 AM To: Heather Dudley-Nollette <HDudley-Nollette@co.jefferson.wa.us> Cc: Greg Brotherton <GBrotherton@co.jefferson.wa.us> Subject: Fwd: Re: Public Testimony ALERT: BE CAUTIOUS This email originated outside the organization. Do not open attachments or click on links if you are not expecting them. Hi, Greg and Heather, So this doesn't come as surprise. Jaime submitted a comment asking for more support for affordable housing and critical repairs. Audrey responded and I am in agreement with her. I would add that the plan focuses on gaps and barriers not improvements in existing programs, otherwise we would have twenty more actions covering other HSP programs. I went ahead and added some of what she asked for into the line in-line out of the plan for tonight (also attached). all for now, Viki ============ Forwarded message ============ From: Audrey Morford <audreymorford@gmail.com> To: "Jamie Maciejewski"<director@habitatejc.org> Cc: "vikis"<vikis@ecopraxis.org> Date: Sun, 07 Dec 2025 14:11:52 -0800 Subject: Re: Public Testimony ============ Forwarded message ============ Hi Jamie, Thank you for sharing your input. I hope you would have felt free to share this input at an earlier stage in the planning process if it were possible. I agree completely with your first point. The second I agree with in its spirit and aim, but the reality of serving folks who are primarily at less than 50% of AMI and facing significant barriers to even accessing a rental lease precludes them from accessing the mortgage required for even affordable homeownership. Sections of the plan acknowledge and aim to address the housing instability of the HSP workforce. I would love to see a plan for increasing the education around affordable homeownership for HSP and others that could drive your objectives under your proposal’s second section. Still, I support expanding support in the plan for this as an important part of the housing spectrum—and an essential pathway for lasting and meaningful movement out of poverty for lower-income households. At the beginning of this process, we made the decision to include affordable housing as part of the plan, which is not a requirement of Commerce. We wanted, however, for the plan to acknowledge the reality of the essential role of affordable housing (including homeownership) in the continuum and moving folks from homelessness to housing stability. I have the utmost respect for your work, and I hope we can collaborate over the lifetime of the plan to bring its work to life in the community. Looking forward to collaborating on how we can amend the plan to include your input moving forward and make it a meaningful, workable tool for progress. Respectfully, Audrey On Dec 5, 2025, at 5:11 PM, Jamie Maciejewski <director@habitatejc.org> wrote: Hi Audrey and Viki, I know you'll see this on Monday, but I wanted to give you both a heads up that I've submitted it for the hearing. Thank you for your hard work. Please let me know if you have questions. In partnership, Jamie From: Jamie Maciejewski <director@habitatejc.org> Sent: Friday, December 5, 2025 5:09 PM To: cityclerk@cityofpt.us <cityclerk@cityofpt.us> Subject: Public Testimony Hello, This is for Monday's hearing on the 2025-2030 Jefferson County Homeless & Affordable Housing Services Plan. Jamie Maciejewski Executive Director Habitat for Humanity of East Jefferson County P.O. Box 658 • Port Townsend, WA 98368 office: (360) 379-2827 director@habitatejc.org • habitatejc.org <Outlook-53wez13b.png> <Habitat EJC Public Comment Homeless Housing Plan.pdf>