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Cure for Ferry Anxiety (Enterprise Rental Car Program) Application information in English Informacion para postular en Espãnol
The San Juan Community Home Trust is an equal opportunity housing provider. El San Juan Community Home Trust es un proveedor de vivienda con iguales oportunidades.
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Site Design Begins for Buck Property
The Friday Harbor Town Council’s vote on June 21, 2007 -- to include the Buck property in the Town’s Urban Growth Area (UGA) -- gave the Home Trust a green light to begin planning a site design for the property. The design team now in place will develop plans for the entire 45.5 acres - 30 acres to be retained by the Buck family and 15+ acres to be developed as permanently affordable housing. The Town is asking for a master plan for the whole property, to be submitted at the time of an annexation request. The Design Team (pictured above) includes current and former members of the Home Trust Board of Directors, members of the Buck family, Richard Hobbs as our strategic advisor, Jed Clark as the architect, John Hart as engineer, and Tom Berger as landscape architect.
The group met July 3rd and reviewed the initial issues of road placement, density, wetlands and setbacks, and goals for both the Buck family and the Home Trust. The group also walked the site and enjoyed the views from the upper portions of the property, the 3 acres of garden currently under cultivation by Jai Boreen and his family (which will continue on his portion of the property), and the potential for a new “mixed income” neighborhood.
The Home Trust is very excited about the incredible potential this property has to become a model neighborhood for permanently affordable housing, in a mixed-income neighborhood, using low impact development techniques and incorporating an element of open space and trails.
Robert F. Buck Family’s Legacy to Include Permanently Affordable Housing The San Juan Community Home Trust is excited to announce a new partnership for its next set of permanently affordable homes. The three children of Robert F. Buck and their spouses, Vincent and Jane Buck, Carolyn and Bob Norman, and Jai and Bequin Boreen have agreed to sell one-third of their 46 acres to a supporter of the Home Trust and to collaborate on the creation of permanently affordable housing. The land is adjacent to the former gravel pit, and within several blocks of Friday Harbor Elementary school. A number of steps are required before any development will take place, including the expansion of the county-designated Urban Growth Area around the Town of Friday Harbor. This will require an agreement by the Town and the County and subsequent annexation of the parcel into the Town. According to Home Trust board member Larry Soll, “This is an opportunity for the Town and the County to significantly increase the number of permanently affordable homes on San Juan Island.”
The Buck property borders the southeast corner of Friday Harbor. A portion of this parcel (outlined in blue above) may be the site of a future Home Trust development.
Our Mission The mission of The San Juan Community Home Trust is to make home ownership possible to wage earning people on San Juan Island. It is widely recognized that there is an affordable housing crisis on the island, causing the loss of our traditional island community. According to a 2003 Housing Survey, many families and individuals are moving away. This is because the gap between earned wages and housing prices has widened so much, that it is now almost impossible for wage-earning residents to own a home.
The Home Trust is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization, which can apply for grants and accept tax-deductible contributions from individuals, foundations and agencies that support home ownership. With these funds, the Home Trust provides a one-time subsidy to the cost of land, infrastructure and construction. Homebuyers must agree to limit the eventual resale price of the home so that it is perpetually (i.e., forever) affordable to working people. Unlike on the speculative market, the increase in resale price is restricted by a formula tied to the area median income. (A statistic issued by the federal housing agency, HUD.) The Home Trust is a community land trust (a CLT), a type of organization that removes the cost of land from the cost of a home. The land is held in perpetuity by the nonprofit organization, and the homes are sold to qualified buyers. Islanders are able to achieve the long term security of home ownership, to build equity, and to pass the ownership of the home on to one's heirs, through our program.
Join Us! Your membership can make a difference! Local community support is essential to our success, and your membership is the primary means of demonstrating this local support. Granting agencies need to see that their funds are going to a program that is valued within the community. Furthermore, the Home Trust relies on the contributions and donations of its members to support its ongoing operations. If the Home Trust is to meet its goal of making homes available for low income residents, it simply must have local support. You can start helping right now by donating online through Network for Good. Or you can click on the membership application form and either print it out and mail it to us, at San Juan Community Home Trust, P.O. Box 2603, Friday Harbor, WA 98250 or fax it to us at 360.378.3742. Learn More About Homeownership If you are interested in learning more about how to purchase a Salal Neighborhood home, click here. If you are interested in helping with ongoing volunteer activities at the Salal Neighborhood or with other Home Trust projects, email us at info@hometrust.org or drop by our office located at 435-C Argyle Ave. (right next to The Computer Place). You can also visit our booth at the upcoming San Juan County Fair.
Floor plans & other project drawings for homes in the Salal Neighborhood can be found here. |
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