"SALES TAX NEWS: New sales tax dedicated to build entry-level housing starts April 1, 2021 in Port Townsend & Jefferson County
As expected, the Jefferson Board of County Commissioners (BOCC) on Dec. 21 approved a 1/10th of 1% ($1 per $1,000 purchase) sales tax for Port Townsend and Jefferson County expected to generate $600,000 per year dedicated for affordable housing and supportive services. The plan here is to focus on creating entry-level housing.
The sales tax is effective April 1, 2021 and applies in both the City of Port Townsend and unincorporated Jefferson County; it applies to retail purchases, not food. There is a two-month lag time upon inception that the state provides the sales tax revenue.
“Unequivocally, housing remains the number one economic barrier for our community,” EDC Team Jefferson Executive Director Brian Kuh said in support of the sales tax measure to create entry-level housing. Kuh added, “The very future of our economic prosperity depends on it.”
The state Legislature through House Bill 1590 allowed such a sales tax be enacted with or without a vote of the people. The BOCC have been discussing the prospect for months, moving ahead after involving representatives from local housing and support services.Instead of sprinkling the money on assorted projects, housing providers propose it be focused on creating entry-level housing.
The goal is to break the logjam that prevents people from rising up the ladder from transitional and supportive housing into permanent housing, of which there is almost none available here for rent or purchase. (sidenote here by post author Rev. Crystal Cox, the LOGJAM is and has been OLYCAP, the CITY and the COUNTY)
A meeting of Jefferson County and City of Port Townsend staff with representatives of Olympic Community Action Programs (OlyCAP), Dove House Advocacy Services, Bayside Housing, Peninsula Housing Authority and Habitat for Humanity for East Jefferson County led to several key recommendations the BOCC is adopting to use the new revenue source: -- A focus on entry-level housing rather than homeless housing;
(sidenote here by post author Rev. Crystal Cox, they said this in their 10 year rapid housing solution plan and never did it, they may or may not have had good intentions, however, it seems to be all YAP to me that will go to the people who already have homes.) CLICK for REPORT
-- Creation of a technical evaluation committee of people experienced with property development, construction, real estate and financial management to conduct an independent review of funding proposals.
(sidenote here by post author Rev. Crystal Cox, the above is NOT a Housing First Approach. It is simply getting more of your tax money to pay for administrations and NOT REAL SOLUTIONS that matter to the actual REAL HOMELESS. Housing First means HOUSING, not more of your studies and nonsense)
Housing levels are defined with this ladder: emergency shelter, transitional housing, supportive housing, affordable housing (both rentals and ownership), market rate rental and market rate ownership. The consensus among the local housing providers is the most impact could be made by providing permanent, entry-level housing. No apartments have been built in East Jefferson in more than a decade. Many existing rental units have been converted into owner-occupied condominiums or guest rentals.“Our continuum of housing is broken here and it resembles more a slide into homelessness,” Commissioner Greg Brotherton said Dec. 21.
SALES TAX SUPPORT
The Port Townsend City Council, the 5-member Joint Oversight Board (JOB) which includes a County commissioner and City councilor, the Homeless Housing Task Force and the five housing providers support the sales tax, noted County Administrator Philip Morley, which is limited in how it can be spent (see details near end of this report).
In terms of administrative costs to manage the fund, Morley said that, “frankly, there hasn’t been time yet” to seek legal counsel on whether administrative costs can be covered by the sales tax collection. The BOCC had noted previously that the goal should be to retain as much of the new revenue for actual construction and not to cover staff costs.
Also, the City of Port Townsend and Jefferson County still need to update the existing interlocal agreement on the affordable housing and homeless housing funding to incorporate this new revenue source, Morley reported.
The year-round homeless shelter at the American Legion Hall in downtown Port Townsend and the transitional housing offered by Bayside Housing & Services in Port Hadlock are full, Morley said. When Bayside is able to find housing for clients, it’s almost always outside Jefferson County.
“The system is backed up because there is no real inventory of entry-level affordable housing for people to move out of a shelter or transitional housing,” Morley said. (sidenote here by post author Rev. Crystal Cox, check out Port Townsend Free Press, the Cherry Street project, the CITY, the County, OlyCap stops people from solving this issue as far as I see it. Click HERE for More on Cherry Street Project)
PUBLIC COMMENTSix people offered verbal public comment during the Dec. 21 virtual meeting, all in favor. Among the written comments submitted, most were in support and two were opposed, Morley noted. Here are some of the verbal comments:
Realtor Terry Smith of Port Hadlock supported the sales tax, talking about senior-age clients who were unable to stay in their homes and ended up living in campers but unable to afford RV park fees. She also mentioned clients who had job offers here which they had to decline “because they couldn’t afford to live here.”
Port Townsend Mayor Michelle Sandoval, also a Realtor, noted that voters rejected the Prop 1 ballot measure in November of 2017 that would have increased property taxes to help with affordable housing primarily because there was no clear plan on how to use the money. The current proposal solves that problem and is necessary because there simply are no alternatives for people living in the homeless shelter who otherwise have the ability to afford a modest place to live, she noted.
Housing advocate Julia Cochran of Port Townsend addressed the concern that a sales tax is regressive and could hurt people from lower income brackets. Speaking as someone who lives on $1,000 a month, Cochran said the most she ever spends that would be subject to the new sales tax is $300 a month, which means the new tax would cost her an extra 30 cents.
Brian Kuh, executive director of EDC Team Jefferson, said the housing issue involves more than the homeless or unsheltered. He said that young professionals who grew up in Jefferson County and want to return cannot find a place to live. Likewise, businesses seeking to hire new employees often find those newcomers cannot afford to live here.
Tom Thiersch said the sales tax is “a good starting point” but more help is needed. He suggested that Jefferson County regulate and permit short-term vacation rentals, as does the City of Port Townsend, to collect available fees.
COMMISSIONER COMMENTS
Commissioner David Sullivan, who unsuccessfully pushed for the BOCC to enact the sales tax months ago, noted that the $600,000 a year “is still not going to be enough to solve all the need” but there are ways to leverage the money to gain grant funding, etc. A system in place with the housing task force and a request for proposals process has been established and can be refined.
“Exactly what this money will be spent on depends on the creativity of the community,” Sullivan said. (When the BOCC was ready to vote, Sullivan made the motion to enact the sales tax, possibly his last major vote as his 16 years as an elected county commissioner ends Dec. 31, 2020).
(sidenote here by post author Rev. Crystal Cox, "creativity?" Fancy word for SIMPLE FIXES THAT WOULD KEEP US FROM FREEZING TO DEATH. ya PT Authority get Creative with OUR LIVES. All this is do-gooder dreams and ideal from people NOT using a Common Sense approach to people SUFFERING and DYING. )
Commissioner Kate Dean said the action is “one very small step in what is a massive structural issue.” She believes that income inequality is the defining issue of era “seen most of all in housing.” Dean said that increasing the infrastructure for housing “is a number one priority for me” and the public also wants to see more housing units.
“This needs to be one step in a really comprehensive, new way in looking at housing,” Dean added, along with the County’s efforts on regulatory reform to improve permit processes, and to address mental health and substance abuse.
“We see it playing out at the fairgrounds right now. We’re seeing it in pristine Port Townsend,” Dean said. “These are people who were living in the woods before and we just didn’t see it.”
(Sidenote: Click here for my opinion about the Fairgrounds Encampment. keep in mind the HUGE list of complaints and crimes as posted on the Port Townsend Free Press Site, Click here to read that post with police log. While at the same time the powers that be are pressing CRIMINAL charges against a Homeless Man whose dog got loose and they cry wolf sort of speak as they gang up to make sure this NOT CRIME is prosecuted and the man's, much needed emotional support dog is taken. While THEY do not actual seem to be prosecuting the violent crimes at the Jefferson County Fairgrounds, the theft, the fights, the illegal drugs, oh well just don't let the Prominent People see you with a dog they want or don't approve of it being "underfed" sniffle sniffle. Click here for the MOSES the Dog Story.)
Commissioner Greg Brotherton noted the “overwhelming support in public testimony” for the sales tax increase.
HOUSING EMERGENCY
(sidenote here by post author Rev. Crystal Cox, Yes Housing Emergency QUICK get some Grants and Tax money to sooth the conscience of those already in houses, quick get more money to spend on more paperwork, more studies, more NONESENSE, while we die in the streets. THEY could have had Solutions with COMMON SENSE. They Chose to line their own pockets and pay for studies, reports, meetings and salaries of those already housed. )
The BOCC in 2017 officially declared a “housing emergency” which actually has existed for years. Improvements have since been made in how the County and City coordinate the spending of money annually collected through Fund 148 (affordable housing) and Fund 149 (homeless housing). Jefferson County recently awarded $263,257 in grants for these projects and programs.
Legislative HB 1590, an act amending RCW 82.14.530, created councilmanic authority for a 1/10th of 1% local sales and use tax to construct, operate and maintain affordable housing for people at or below 60% of the area median income and who fall into seven specific demographic categories: Persons with behavioral disabilities, Veterans, senior citizens, families with children who are homeless or at risk of being homeless, unaccompanied homeless youth or young adults, persons with disabilities and/or domestic violence survivors.
Funding may also be used to construct mental health and behavioral health-related facilities and/or to operate and maintain newly constructed evaluation and treatment centers.
(sidenote here by post author Rev. Crystal Cox, ANY money NOT spent on HOUSING FIRST Before you determine what Mental Help you think I need, that is the REAL HOUSING FIRST APPROACH.)
Any remainder of the money collected (up to 40%) must be used for the operation, delivery or evaluation of mental and behavioral health treatment programs and services, or housing-related services. (sidenote: AGAIN that is NOT a Housing First Approach, that's a lets pay our friends and colleagues to figure out what is wrong with you homeless people approach.)
HOUSING FIRST IS SIMPLE
IT IS "HOUSING FIRST"
Not City Employees, County Employees, Engineers, Contractors, OlyCap, Mental Health Counselors, Social Workers, Navigators, Psychiatrists, Commissioners FIRST. It is HOUSING FIRST and You ALL are in the way of that. "
Back to the ArticleWhen the Jefferson BOCC first took up the affordable housing sales tax agenda item Dec. 21, Commissioner Greg Brotherton again used his platform as an elected official to showcase his amateur musical skills by promoting the sales tax revenue option to the tune of “House of the Rising Sun.” Brotherton had the BOCC’s virtual meeting show a video of he and his daughter playing multiple instruments while he sang about the house in Quilcene with no septic system, a house in Port Townsend affordable only to Californians, a 50-unit housing project in Port Hadlock that remains imaginary without a wastewater system, and property in Chimacum where it’s too expensive for young farmers to get started. “Thank you for indulging me,” Brotherton said after the three-minute video performance.
You can view the performance through the agenda link, below.
LEARN MORE
Proposed Sales & Use Tax for Affordable Housing, Dec. 21, 2020 (scroll down the agenda to the 1:30 pm topic about the sales tax and click on the red PDF icon).
https://media.avcaptureall.com/session.html?sessionid=f831f615-31d9-4176-9ae8-e201a076c039&prefilter=845,5958
(sidenote here by post author Rev. Crystal Cox, if you need games and cutzie music to convince people to care about people freezing in tents, don't bother, you do not speak for us.)
The complete “Making Homelessness a Singular Occurrence – Homeless Crisis Response and Housing 5 Year Plan for Jefferson County” is posted on the official Jefferson County website at this link to the BOCC agenda. Scroll down the agenda until the 10:45 am “Briefing” time slot, and click on the icon:
https://media.avcaptureall.com/session.html?sessionid=1375731e-32c4-4314-8bad-71ce620ac7bf&prefilter=845,5958
#homelessplan #salestax #affordablehousing #jeffersoncountywashington #porttownsend
Source
https://www.facebook.com/Jefferson-County-Washington-236159643133225/
More on REAL Housing First Programs, and NOT let's pay contractors, therapist, nagivators, police, city officials and OlyCap wages.
NOTE: of the 7.7 million that OlyCap gets a year, $100 would have saved Cassandra Aldrich's life that night. We don’t get a lot of those kinds of extreme cold in Port Townsend Washington. One night in a hotel with her dog, and this 56 year old Port Townsend local would be alive. 100 / 7,700,000 = .00001298701% of OlyCap money to save a life, no one bothered.
https://EndHomelessness.org/
https://endhomelessness.org/ending-homelessness/solutions/?
https://wscadv.org/projects/domestic-violence-housing-first/
I have reached out to Housing First programs, as a non-profit and had many conversations and applications to get this going here in Port Townsend, however, OLYCAP is LITERALLY in the WAY of HELPING THE Homeless, in my personal experience and opinion. When you apply or talk with their Grant or Funding officers they say there is an Entity in that area for these services. This prevents other non-profits from that MASSIVE 7.7 MILLION A YEAR THAT OLYCAP SPENDS NOT HELPING.
Posted here upon the belief and knowledge of
Reverend Crystal Cox, Goddess Church
A NON-PROFIT BENEVOLENT ORGANIZATION
Federal Tax ID# 46-5093790
WA State Tax ID UBI# 603 388 411
Charities Registration #35698
