Consultant hired by City Will Help Address Affordable Housing Shortage

Submitted by Karen Sargeant, City of Chelan Parks, Recreation & Community Services Director

As part of the ongoing community effort to address the shortage of affordable housing in the Chelan Valley, the City of Chelan has engaged the services of Housing and Community Development consultant, Julie Brunner.

Julie Brunner is a nationally recognized expert in planning and implementation of affordable housing strategies. She has extensive experience in participatory community and organizational capacity assessments. She has supported a wide variety of communities and organizations in the Northwest and across the country to assess and plan for meeting their unique affordable housing needs.

In addition to being a consultant, Ms. Brunner has served as OPAL Community Land Trust’s housing Manager, on Orcas Island, Washington since moving there January 2002. As such, she regularly assesses housing needs for Orcas Island to implement solutions in that community.

Ms. Brunner’s work here in Chelan will include:

  • A housing availability and needs assessment that will identify gaps in housing availability for various populations and identify the associated options for housing solutions.
  • Conducting a preliminary analysis to assess the amount of subsidy required to create permanently affordable homeownership units in Chelan.
  • Research and annotation of existing and potential sources to support the development of affordable housing in Chelan.

As a critical part of this work, Ms. Brunner will be visiting Chelan during the week of April 23rd to meet with stakeholders and interested residents.  Stakeholders might include those looking for low or middle- income housing, social service providers, employers and those in the real estate and construction industries. She will bring an educational presentation to deliver as well as be prepared to meet in small groups or one on one with potential advocates or skeptics.

On Tuesday, April 24, 2018 at 6:00 P.M, Ms. Brunner will make a public presentation to the Chelan City Council. All interested parties are encouraged to attend.

Anyone interested in participating in this process may contact Chelan City Hall, at 682-4037.