“Honestly? I wouldn’t want to live next door to someone who can’t afford a $650,000 house.”

The man in the audience voiced a sentiment likely shared by at least a few others in the room. The occasion was a gathering of people who care a lot about Jefferson County. They’ve worked hard to get where they are today. Most are homeowners who have lived in the area for many years.

When I shared that the median house price in Port Townsend had topped $650,000, rather than hearing a cause for alarm, he heard assurance that this is a good community. It’s a place with reputable neighbors who care for their homes. Fair enough, I answered. But let’s explore what that means. What happens when half the homes in our community sell for the better part of a million dollars? 

Show of hands, I asked: how many of you raised children who had to move away because they couldn’t afford to live here? Or know someone whose kids had to move away? I ask this of almost every group I speak with. And every time, hands go up. This evening was no exception.

The people who can’t afford a $650,000 house are the people who drive our school buses and ambulances, wait our tables, take our blood pressure, and paint our houses. They are the people we rely on to keep us all well, protect us, and take care of us as we get older. If we only have room for people who can afford a half-million-dollar house, where will everyone else live?

Habitat for Humanity builds homes that are affordable to the people who make our economy run. There’s been a lot of talk about “affordable housing.” What is it? Here’s how we define it. Affordable housing shouldn’t take more than a third of your income, no matter whether you make a little or a lot.

It’s not easy to hit that mark. Many, many workers in Jefferson County pay well over a third of their income for housing. In fact, if you pay less than a third, then it’s a good bet you have either owned your house for at least ten years or else you had enough equity in another house to pay cash when you moved here.

There is one more possibility: You could own a Habitat home. If you are fortunate to own one of the nearly 70 Habitat homes that have been built in the past 25-plus years in Jefferson County, your mortgage was deliberately structured to not cost more than a third of your monthly income.

Habitat uses several tools to keep houses affordable. Sweat equity means buyers contribute time to help build their home. Last year, 373 volunteers contributed more than 18,000 hours. “Advanced framing” construction methods reduce the overuse of lumber while increasing energy efficiency. Attached homes make careful use of land. Donors, including house sponsors, generously fill the gap between the cost to build and the affordable price.

“Permanent affordability” is a relatively new tool in our toolbox. In exchange for a home with an affordable mortgage, buyers agree to “pay it forward” to the next owner by limiting future appreciation. This protects the community’s investment and ensures the stock of affordable housing grows, while still providing owners with the many advantages of homeownership, including the ability to build equity and realize modest appreciation. These advantages are proven bridges to the middle class and a major motivation behind Habitat’s commitment to homeownership.

Habitat is not alone in working to make more housing available to our middle- and lower-income workers in Jefferson County. We cheer on every new unit that comes available as an opportunity for our children to remain in the community where they grew up and for local employees to work close to their homes and their kids’ schools.

It’s why we are so excited by some of our upcoming projects — a six-home cottage community on Cliff Street this year, a 14-home duplex-style community on Landes Street next year, and the 150-home Mason Street Neighborhood in Port Hadlock in 2027. With these new neighborhoods, we are expanding to serve more of our community’s vital workforce. We now accept applications for homeownership year-round and are working to remove barriers to homeownership that were baked into the housing landscape due to discriminatory laws and practices.

As Habitat’s CEO Jonathan Reckford says, “Because of our past, we can do more. Because of our vision, we must do more.”

It doesn’t take having a neighbor who can afford $650,000 to have a great community. We need all our workers. The manager at the local grocery store; the teacher at the local school; the person who cuts your hair. Do we want to live in a community that works for all of us? I know I do. My bet is that you do, too!

Jamie Maciejewski has been executive director of Habitat for Humanity of East Jefferson County for 17 years.