In Sequim, $56,300 is the magic number when defining what’s affordable.

That dollar amount is the area median income in Clallam County and is used to base income and rent limits for affordable housing throughout the county.

What’s considered affordable varies from place to place. In neighboring King County, for example, the median income is $89,600.

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) calculates the median incomes for all communities, Kay Kassinger, Peninsula Housing Authority executive director, said.

Based on the area median income in Clallam County, a person has an “extremely low income” if his or her annual income is $12,150, which still is above the 2015 state poverty guideline of $11,770, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

“More than 50 percent of the single households we serve in our Section 8 program are below the poverty level,” Kassinger said. “The maximums (income limits) we don’t get anywhere close to serving, but our programs are critical for the clients we do serve.”

To qualify for a Section 8 voucher through the Peninsula Housing Authority one must have an annual income of 50 percent ($20,300 for single person) or below the area’s median income.

“People tend to think of Sequim as high income, and well, there are quite a few, but I don’t think people recognize how many extremely low-income people live in the community,” Kassinger said.

Affordability and who’s low income

A mix of affordable housing exists in Sequim, but of the nine affordable apartments listed by the Peninsula Housing Authority, less than half are open to families and individuals. Instead the majority are limited to seniors.

Additionally, the affordable housing available in Sequim primarily serves those with annual incomes at 60 percent or below the area median income. Few properties reserve space for those with annual incomes of 50 percent or below the area median income and even fewer have units set aside for those earning 30 percent, according the Washington State Housing Financing Commission’s chart of affordable properties it’s financed in Sequim.

Thus, for a single person to qualify for low-income housing he or she must earn an annual income of $27,480 (60 percent area median income) or below. The income limit also changes based on the number of people. For two people, 60 percent of the area median income is $31,380 or $35,280 for three.

Although restricting the amount of housing to those earning 60 percent or less of the median income opens housing options to more people, it also increases the demand as more people become eligible.

“When we’ve run the numbers the 60 percent rate around here is really a market rate — It’s not a really a reduced income for this community,” Kassinger said. “When you look at what’s considered low income in our community, it’s decent money for around here.”

Based on Washington’s minimum wage of $9.47, the annual income of someone working 40 hours a week totals about $19,700.

“I think most people would be shocked if they looked at HUD guidelines,” Kassinger said. “We’ve had school teachers come through our programs — most low income are your neighbors.”

“A lot of our customers are SSI and/or disabled so they’re limited in what housing they can afford and they’re not able to find it here,” Donna Tidrick, Sequim Community Aid vice president, said.

“A lot of the people we see are single parents,” Mike Flynn, president of the St. Vincent de Paul Society, said. “Even if they’re working full time, their resources are often stretched thin and if they stumble — and everybody stumbles once in a while — then they’re in trouble.”

Both the St. Vincent de Paul Society and Sequim Community Aid are local organizations that often provide financial assistance to rent and utilities.

To limit the number of “housing burdened” people, where families or individuals are living paycheck to paycheck to afford their rent and basic utilities, the goal outlined by HUD is no one should pay more than 30 percent of their income for rent and basic utilities, Kassinger said.

At the 72-unit Mountain View Court Apartments in Sequim, these same guidelines apply, resident manager Sarah Wilhelm said.

“We’ve had elderly people, people with disabilities, single parents, students and people at entry level jobs living here,” she said. “And really, what most people need is a stepping stone before the next phase of life.”

“People have this perception that if you’re low income, you’re no good, but it just means you don’t have a high paying job,” Kassinger said. “There’s always going to be deadbeats, but that’s not everyone.”

Given the number of service industry, hospitality and seasonal jobs Sequim has to offer, Kassinger said, “jobs are one of the biggest problems we have.”

“Service industry jobs were never designed to support families,” she said. “I don’t see that we have come out of the depression as much as communities along the I-5 corridor. “I also think our rural and remoteness has a lot to do with our affordable housing demands.”

Change to Section 8 voucher program

To better manage demands, officials with the Peninsula Housing Authority in Clallam County are preparing to switch to a new method of administering Section 8 vouchers.

In Clallam County the housing authority has about 420 vouchers.

“The last time the wait list was opened was February 2010,” Kassinger said. “We’re just now working through the last of those.”

On average, Kassinger said, about 61 clients go off the program annually — thus it takes time to recycle those and eventually work down the list.

“The majority of our clients we serve tend to be singles, seniors or disabled,” she said. “For a lot of people, once they get into the program, they stay on it because they have no other option for affordable housing.”

Recognizing six years to work through a waiting list wasn’t an effective way, the agency decided to mirror other agencies, such as the Seattle Housing Authority and change to a lottery system.

Using a computer program, a pre-determined number of people based on the amount of available vouchers will be randomly selected.

This change in method allows people “hope” Kassinger said. “It won’t be six years from now that we give you a call.”

Kassinger expects to reopen the waiting list and launch the new lottery system in spring.

Room for more

“The affordable housing here is insufficient,” Flynn said. “There are apartments options available, but there are often times long waiting lists.”

Mountain View Court Apartments has a waiting list of 41 applicants and Elk Creek Apartments, a 138-unit affordable housing complex, also has a waiting list for one and three bedroom units. Neither apartment complex is limited to seniors.

“We (St. Vincent de Paul Society) average about 30-50 calls a week,” Flynn said. “We can’t help them all of course.”

Of those calls, about two-thirds of the assistance the society provides is for housing, he said.

Sequim Community Aid annually provides about $3,000 for rent and utilities assistance, Tidrick said.

As rents continue to increase from year to year, the nonprofit isn’t able to help as many people with the same amount of assistance, she said. To best focus their efforts and avoid offering assistance to those that may abuse the community safety nets, like the St. Vincent de Paul Society and Sequim Community Aid, Tidrick and Flynn keep records and continuously collaborate.

“Because of that, we’re able to help more and the ones that need it the most,” Flynn said.

Despite the fluidity between their organizations, both Flynn and Tidrick agree Sequim needs more affordable housing options, especially aimed at families and those reliant on Supplemental Security Income, as well as more flexibility from landlords.

But, to build more affordable housing is a “competitive” process, Kassinger said.

“Tax credits are competitive, but that’s about the only way you can fund affordable housing at this point,” she said.

The Washington State Housing Finance Commission helped fund most of the affordable housing properties in Sequim. The housing commission administers federal tax credit through two programs.

“Nine percent tax credits provide the deepest subsidy for housing, so they allow for lower incomes to be served. They are allocated each year through a competitive process,” Margret Graham, Washington State Housing Finance Commission communications manager, said.

The less competitive “4 percent tax credits are allocated along with bonds,” she said. “The subsidy is less, so incomes and rents at those properties are higher.”

The Peninsula Housing Authority hopes to build more affordable housing in Sequim, Kassinger said, but they’re finding it challenging.

“Some of the challenges we see in Sequim are the cost of connection fees and real estate prices,” she said.

Because the City of Sequim doesn’t have the staff or technical capacity to seek grants and spearhead construction, it plays a more supportive role, Chris Hugo, City of Sequim director of community development, said.

“The role of the city is mainly to remove barriers to affordable housing through zoning that doesn’t preclude it,” he said.

The city also is tasked with maintaining Sequim’s “small-town character,” he said.

Within the newly adopted City of Sequim 2015-2035 Comprehensive Plan, Hugo included conditional use permits as one mechanism for affordable housing.

“Allowing low-income, special needs and group home housing units through a conditional use permit process in all districts helps ensure that all areas share in the responsibly to meet community housing needs and are protected from the impacts of group housing and increased traffic,” according to the Comprehensive Plan.

“Our responsibility is provide adequate opportunities within the city,” he said. “Even though we’ve restructured the land use to reduce high density like Elk Creek.”

Hugo anticipates updating the city’s codes to address alternative structures, like the concept of tiny houses.