Stories of Impact

One landlord reflects on her decision to reduce rent for her tenant due to his loss of income in the COVID-19 pandemic.

I have lived in Port Townsend for fifteen years; it’s my home. I’ve seen the housing issue from a few different angles over those years, but right now I feel it because I am worried I will not be able to stay here.  When I first moved to Port Townsend I lived in one of … Read more

After joining the educational Outreach Housing Action Team I’ve found that I think about our housing crisis almost every single day. For me, this crisis is all about what kind of community we want, and intend, to be.

Recently I was talking to a friend who works at Dove House about their recruiting. She told me that they had found an excellent candidate for a job opening, who unfortunately couldn’t take the position because she could not find housing. For nonprofits and businesses alike, the lack of housing makes providing services and sustaining staff an ongoing challenge.

I moved to Jefferson County with my teenage daughter this past August when I got a job with Jefferson Community Foundation. In the months since moving here, I have experienced both the disheartening struggle of finding a place to rent, as well as the kindness of people who barely know me. I used to own … Read more

I moved to Jefferson County in May of 2017 when I accepted the position of Executive Director at the Jefferson Community Foundation. Via Craigslist, I found a cute little house in Port Townsend to rent. To my surprise, the rent was the same amount I had been paying in Seattle. This posed a challenge as … Read more

In 2016, we embarked on an incredible journey together of building a tiny house. We had nearly no experience with any of the techniques involved in building a house, but with so many resources out there, we were sure we could pull it off. While we tapped into many different resources, from books to YouTube, … Read more

Our first time in Port Townsend was on our honeymoon in 2013. We instantly fell in love with the area, and were finally able to relocate in 2015. Our first rental was a small home in Hamilton Heights for $875/month. Our landlord terminated our lease early to move in his mom, which then led us … Read more

What drives your commitment to work for affordable housing? I was a collegiate congressional intern when the seeds of the financial/mortgage crisis were sewn in 1996. When I graduated, prices had risen, so I lived in a barn. As a freelance writer, I covered local planning commission meetings for my hometown paper just as my … Read more

What drives your commitment to work for affordable housing?My commitment is driven by my personal experience. Several years ago, my husband died under a bridge in Milwaukee, WI during a freezing December. He wasn’t allowed into the homeless shelter because he was an active alcoholic. On top of that, when the housing bubble burst, my … Read more