Home Trust Celebrates 10 Years

A Backyard in the Salal Neighborhood – Contributed photo

The San Juan Community Home Trust is celebrating ten years of providing permanently affordable home ownership for San Juan Islanders while also beginning plans to start its third project in Friday Harbor.

The Home Trust has built 29 new homes in two Friday Harbor neighborhoods (Salal and Sun Rise.) These 29 homes have been purchased 42 times over the ten years, with no one ever paying more than 32% of their monthly household income for their mortgage payments.

“None of our homes have been foreclosed upon, and all have remained affordable for the next eligible buyers,” said Barbara Starr, president of the Home Trust Board. “The homes are never put on the speculative market, yet our homeowners can make a modest profit when they sell.”

The Home Trust manages the re-sales of the homes, insuring affordability to the next owners. Subsidies from government grants and private contributions that went into the construction stay with the house over time, and are passed forward from one homeowner to the next.

Homes in the ten-year-old Salal neighborhood that originally sold for between $113,000 and $130,000 now range between $123,000 and $145,000. “We’ve had no trouble filling these homes with people from our waiting list,” said executive director Nancy DeVaux. “There is competition for these houses. Especially now that there is mature landscaping; the neighborhood has such a lovely feel to it.”

In the 3-year-old Sun Rise neighborhood, the 2nd resale is underway. Mortgages here range between $130,000 for a 1-bedroom to $190,000 for a 4-bedroom home. The family moving out is buying a market rate home on land out of town, demonstrating the role that these homes can play as “starter homes” for young families.

“An unforeseen benefit has been the way our homes have strengthened family ties,” DeVaux said. “Some of the younger homeowners grew up on the island – and their parents still live here. And four of the homes are owned by Island grandmothers, who have children and grandchildren here.”

The Home Trust’s next project will be phase 2 of Sun Rise on the former Buck property near the gravel pit. The already-built LOSS system will handle the wastewater for the project and eventually provide water for irrigation. To learn more visit www.hometrust.org or to get on the Home Trust waiting list, contact Nancy DeVaux at 378- 5541.

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