For average wage earners in the San Juan Islands, home ownership has long been out of reach and rental rates have only continued to escalate. Opinions, sometimes strident, differ on how to address the challenge. In 2014, Jason Robertson was retained to assemble data and lead a series of empirically-based community conversations about viable solutions. The resulting “basket” of options is now being pursued by a variety of partners, including an application to develop 30 units of rent-controlled housing with funding from the Washington State Housing Finance Committee Trust Fund (2022 Update: project funded and constructed). JRO prepared the market study for OPAL Community Land Trust as required to qualify for federal pass-through dollars.
