Submitted by San Juan County

San Juan County (SJC) is excited to announce that $190,000 has been awarded to provide affordable housing utility infrastructure to the Kidder Way Project on Orcas Island. SJC will be able to support the development of ten new homeownership opportunities through this Connecting Housing to Infrastructure Program (CHIP) grant.

Utility development costs have been identified in the county and Washington State as a barrier to the development of affordable housing. This most recent award is the third successful CHIP grant application the County has been awarded. SJC has now been awarded a CHIP grant for a project on all three major ferry-served islands.

The Kidder Way Project is managed by OPAL Community Land Trust. This project will produce ten new affordable housing units on Orcas Island in a prime location in Eastsound. SJC is proud to support the work of OPAL through this CHIP grant, as well a previous grant award to the project from the County’s own Home Fund.

The Home Fund is a SJC Health & Community Services administered program to develop, produce, and preserve affordable housing in San Juan County. This program expands opportunities for local affordable housing projects to bring additional State, Federal and private funding, such as CHIP grants, from outside our county into our community to build more affordable housing.