New affordable housing on the Quimper Peninsula is something to celebrate, and that’s exactly what organizers with Olympic Community Action Programs and others did Friday.

7th Haven, a newly-built, affordable housing development at Hendricks and Seventh streets in Port Townsend, opened last week with 43 units for low-income individuals.

The completion of the project marks the first affordable housing development the city has seen in 15 years, according to OlyCAP.

Gathered within the property’s brand-new parking garage and braving the chilly weather, 200-plus organizers, officials, and community members came together to commemorate the grand opening and ribbon-cutting ceremony for 7th Haven.

FINALLY FINISHED

“None of this would be possible without all of us knowing that this is the path that we have to take,” Jefferson County Commissioner Greg Brotherton said.

“If we don’t have housing for people, what else is there?” he asked.

A handful of speakers including OlyCAP officials, Congressman Derek Kilmer, and others praised the accomplishment and the facility’s features, as remembered the long road to get the housing project across the finish line.

“I recall six years ago on one of those really beautiful Port Townsend afternoons in the summertime, and Kathy [Morgan] and Mark [Ozias] and I met right here in this space of what was then a dusty, gravel parking lot,” said former OlyCAP director Dale Wilson. “7th Haven is validation that we can be a community of action and not words.”

Beyond OlyCAP, multiple local organizations and municipalities played a role in getting 7th Haven completed. Those include Jefferson County, Port Townsend Kiwanis, Clark Construction of Bainbridge Island, the city of Port Townsend, and others.

“There’s a saying that change is inevitable, but progress is optional,” Kilmer said at the grand opening. “This is progress. This is progress for folks in Port Townsend and folks throughout Jefferson County.”

“This is a facility that will represent a new beginning for a whole lot of people,” Kilmer added.

7th Haven will house some of the Peninsula’s most marginalized individuals, including homeless veterans and victims of domestic abuse.

“We know roughly at this point that we’ve got 10 veterans who were unhoused folks; they are sheltered and they will be living here,” said Cherish Cronmiller, executive director of OlyCAP. “We know another 22 of the units are going to folks that are unhoused or currently in a shelter.”

The property is reserved for individuals or families making 50 percent of the area’s median income.

FAVORABLE FEATURES

All in all, the project’s cost totaled at
$16.1 million. The building comes with a multitude of features inside and outside, including six studio spaces, 18 one-bedroom apartments, 15 two-bedroom spaces, and four three-bedroom apartments. The property also boasts an on-site parking garage located on the ground level.

While it hasn’t been finished yet, 7th Haven will also feature a child-care facility for residential and community use, with the Olympic Peninsula YMCA managing child care.

Work has already begun to finish the child-care space, and OlyCAP and the YMCA are set to hold another open house and ribbon cutting when that space is completed in the near future.

Also available at 7th Haven will be support services and special unit designations for Discovery Behavioral Health, Dove House, and Olympic Neighbors.

For tenants who don’t own a vehicle, they will have the opportunity to utilize an electric car-share program thanks to collaboration between ZEV co-op, a Bainbridge-based car-sharing company, and local organizations.

“That is a partnership between the city of Port Townsend, Jefferson County Chamber of Commerce, and drivers in the community,” Cronmiller said. “There will be a car here available to residents who are able to use it and qualify.”

Beyond using just EVs, the building itself will be environmentally friendly with a host of characteristics to make the property a net-zero energy building.

Energy-efficient features include a rooftop solar panel system to offset all apartment building loads, all LED lighting, triple-pane windows, low-flow shower heads, Energy Star refrigerators and range hoods, and a ton of other eco-friendly features.

To look through construction photos of 7th Haven and see the development from gravel lot to finished facility, go to bit.ly/3K9wjZh. A 3D, virtual tour will be available on OlyCAP’s website sometime next week, according to the nonprofit.

NEXT STEP IN HOUSING

With 7th Haven mostly out of the way, OlyCAP’s new focus will be on building the Caswell-Brown Village Congregate Shelter, an emergency shelter and permanent supportive housing facility set to be located on Mill Road.

The planned structure will be adjacent to the Caswell-Brown Village open shelter on Mill Road.

OlyCAP has already secured $1 million with the Washington State Housing Trust Fund, and the nonprofit has pending applications with the state to secure $5.5 million to bring the project to fruition.

OlyCAP has a goal of building and opening the permanent supportive housing facility by summer 2024.