The Methow Housing Trust’s Canyon Street homes in Twisp.
In the past four years, the Methow Housing Trust has completed an average of one house every two months.
Building on that record of success, the nonprofit hopes to double that average in the coming years, as well as partner with another area housing group to provide affordable rentals, among other long-term goals.
“As long as there is demand and a wait pool where there are local residents who aspire to homeownership and it’s not available any other way, we’d like to keep building at a pace that meets that demand and that need in our community,” said Executive Director Danica Ready.
MHT has also recently signed a memorandum of understanding with the Housing Authority of Okanogan County to partner to allow the authority to manage multi-family rental units in at least one Methow Housing Trust community in the future.
More on that project will be announced soon, Ready said.
The Methow Housing Trust held its annual membership meeting Thursday (Nov. 11), giving residents, board members and interested people in the community an update on the nonprofit’s work over the past four years.
The housing trust became an official nonprofit in 2017 and began building houses that year on Canyon Street in Twisp. So far, they’ve completed 13 homes at that site.
“Within the next month, all 13 will be occupied,” Ready said.
Another eight homes in Mazama’s McKinney Ridge neighborhood were also completed more than a year ago — making 21 total homes built by Methow Housing Trust in the valley in four years. The nonprofit also kept a balanced budget, the board reported Thursday, spending $6.9 million on operations and capital investments (including building and buying land), and taking in $7.1 million in donations and sales of finished homes.
The board described their first four years as an “adolescence” and said they were now moving into teen years.
More than 100 prospective homeowners have completed applications in the past four years, and there are currently 40 families in their “wait pool” for new houses.
Due to that high demand, MHT earlier this year increased its eligibility and now offers two paths to homeownership.
For a family making up to 100% of the area median income, the home price and mortgage will be calculated to fit their “wage reality,” according to the housing trust.
Families making 150% of the AMI were newly eligible to apply this year, and their home sale price will be closer to the market rate, but still subsidized by MHT. The trust will sell up to 25% of its homes to families in the higher wage bracket.
“We’ve come to some conclusions that probably won’t surprise you,” Ready said. “Our hope is to double the pace of our production of homes.”
To do that, Ready said the board is looking at securing more land to build houses. MHT is also expanding its staff and is hiring for a chief operating officer.
