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A Healthy Community Houses All

The price and availability of housing is having a profoundly negative effect on our people and communities. For many years, our community has not been able to house all of our residents, at low and middle-earning incomes, which has created an ongoing and growing crisis due to affordability and availability.

Having a home is a basic need that helps build a strong foundation for everything else in life. Ensuring that all residents, regardless of income level, have access to housing is key to a vibrant economy.

It’s important that we come together, stay informed, and take action to build a healthy community.

I AM LOOKING FOR AFFORDABLE HOUSING

I WANT TO BUILD AFFORDABLE HOUSING

I WANT TO LEARN MORE

What is Affordable Housing?

The government defines affordable housing if a family spends no more than 30% of their income to live there.

We are not alone. Communities across our state and beyond are experiencing these same challenges.

In early March 2023, the state Department of Commerce released housing needs projections for the next 20 years for counties throughout the state.

Based on a medium projected population growth, Chelan and Douglas counties need 17,000 new homes over the next 20 years, with about 50 percent of those homes for people making less than the area’s median income.

What can we do?

As a community, there are many things we can do to help guide what our response is to the housing crisis. Learning about the key issues and determining how you can get involved is key.

Here are a few ideas to get you started:

Residents & Individuals

  • Share your story
  • Educate yourself
  • Attend forums and planning meetings
  • Support local organizations 
  • Build an ADU
  • Follow & share posts
  • Donate land to Trusts

Organizations & Businesses

  • Share your story (recruiting and workforce)
  • Share content created by Housing Our Valley
  • Attend forums and planning meetings
  • Partner with organizations such as OVOF on events and other awareness activities
  • Look for opportunities to build diverse housing types
  • Donate land to trusts

Latest News

Article: UW study finds some cities in NCW have adopted denser housing measures

A few years ago, the state Legislature passed a couple bills to incentivize local governments to allow for more housing density with the addition of duplexes, triplexes, attached dwelling units, and the like. Now, a new study has taken a look at what changes local governments, including several in NCW, made to accommodate denser housing after receiving grant funding to remove unnecessary regulatory constraints.

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