03/10/2005: "Joint Meeting Of BOCC And Town Take Up Affordable Housing & Rental Assistance Issues"

John Manning, Carrie Brooks, Howard Rosenfeld, Wally Gillette

Whenever a document is recorded at the auditor's office, ten dollars is collected to be used for low-income housing projects. Well, most of it anyway. The auditor may keep up to, but not more than, 5 percent, and the state receives 40 percent for a housing trust account. State law (RCW 36.22.178) requires:

"sixty percent of the revenue generated by this surcharge will be retained by the county and be deposited into a fund that must be used by the county and its cities and towns for housing projects or units within housing projects that are affordable to very low-income persons with incomes at or below fifty percent of the area median income. The portion of the surcharge retained by a county shall be allocated to very low-income housing projects or units within such housing projects in the county and the cities within a county according to an interlocal agreement between the county and the cities within the county".

When all is said and done, San Juan County ends up with an average of a little over $50,000.00 a year, and the current total availably for disbursement is now $160,000.00. It has been agreed by the County and the Town that 5 percent of that money is to be used by the Town.


It will be no surprise to any informed citizen that spending money collected by the government is not as simple as writing out a check. The BOCC and the Town met for lunch this Tuesday to continue a discussion on Affordable Housing, and how the money can best be used within the constraints of the law . The main issue on housing involved the how, and if, the County should contribute funds to allow the Town "to provide rental assistance" using 5 percent of the available monies for this purpose. Because the law requires specific administration procedures, the expense of adminstering rental assistance -as opposed to simply building affordable housing- would consume too much of the money. To this end, the Town stated it had held discussions with the Whatcom County Health Department, as well as the Opportunity Council, and reported both had expressed a willingness to work with San Juan County to create an Interlocal relationship that would allow the disbursement of rental assistance funds using their in-place administration. John Manning from SJC Health and Community Services informed the group that it was his understanding from the Prosecutors office that any action must conform to RCW 36.22.178, and that if the Town assumes the role of disbursing money for rental assistance, it will be up to the Town, and not the County, to insure it is properly, and legally, done.

Commissioner Miller informed the current Board members that the previous Board had decided that 90 percent of the money should be spent for "bricks-and-mortar" and not for rent assistance. Commission Ranker noted that since there is only $160,000.00 in the account, and according to John Manning that represents three years of revenue from the fees that generated the funds, the money could be quickly used up with no money left for bricks-and-mortar. Commissioner Miller then asked Scott Boyd, Director of the Community Home Trust to enter the conversation, and Mr. Boyd agreed that the need, and indeed the very thrust of the Home Trust, is to build housing, not to provide rent monies.

Commissioner Ranker stated that while he believed that even 50 dollars can be important to one struggling to make their rent payment, he felt the money in the account may be best spent on building new housing, but is "fine with the Town request for 5 per cent of the money for rental needs". The meeting ended without resolution, but it is expected that Mr. Manning will prepare a new draft for review by the County and the Town, that may allow the Town to use their share of the funds for a rental assistance program.