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12/14/2007: "Eight More Homes For Islanders"

(Proud new home owners at the Rocky Bay Key Turnover ceremony)

With some help from a nonprofit group, the community, and a lot of hard hands-on labor, eight more homes have been constructed by, and for, those who will live in them. A well attended ceremony was held Thursday to thank those who have helped in the Rocky Bay Homes For Islanders (HFI) project, congratulate the new home owners for their hard work, and perform a ceremonial key turnover to the proud owners.

HFI is a 501 c 3 nonprofit group that works in partnership with a USDA Rural Development program called Self Help Construction, which has come to be know as “sweat equity”. Unlike programs designed to create affordable housing that simply make housing available to qualifying individuals and groups, the USDA program requires active participation by those who will benefit; and this participation includes not only friends and family members, but also others in the surrounding community.

the president of the Board of HFI, Francine Shaw said the “program requires each of the applicants to work at least 35 hours per week -as well as maintain their full time jobs and maintain their families.” She said the “total hours worked by the homeowners amounted to over 16,000 hours in a 13 month period.. or 2,000 hours per home.”


Participation in the project included the larger community as businesses and individuals donated materials and labor, that as Shaw said in her speech “reminds me of the old building technique of barn raising, where neighbors worked together and supported each other”. Shaw said that in addition to the homeowners hours, community volunteers provided over 650 hours per home.

One year ago a similar ceremony took place when HFI completed their first project, called the Leeward Cove development , also on San Juan Island. Work has already started on a third project in Friday Harbor. The next project will take place on Orcas Island.

In the ongoing efforts for funding, HFI recently lost out in a controversial action by the County Council when they voted to not support a grant application for HFI, but gave full support to a competing request from San Juan Community Home Trust , which builds homes, then sells the home to a qualified buyer, but only leasing the underlying land. This allows the Trust to control who is allowed to purchase the house if it is sold, to insure the new owner will meet a criterion of affordability defined by the Trust