The Methow Conservancy recently announced the donation of six acres in Winthrop's Heckendorn neighborhood to the MHT. Located near the Meadowlark Natural Area and Sullivan Cemetery, this land will enable MHT to develop a permanently affordable neighborhood for full-time residents.
This community forum hosted by Methow Housing Trust, Resilient Methow, Methow Valley Long-Term Recovery and VIP Insurance will be on Wednesday October 30th, 6:00pm at the Winthrop Library.
Since its inception in 2017, Methow Housing Trust has made huge strides to address the need for affordable housing with the development of five neighborhoods, the construction of 49 homes, and the expansion from one staff member to five.
MHT’s core program requires expertise in land acquisition, neighborhood planning and permitting, neighborhood design and project management. As the need for focused leadership in this key area grows, Danica Ready, MHT’s founding director, has decided to make that part of her current role her primary focus.
The aim of local housing easements is to create and preserve housing for people who live and work in the valley. The idea is to establish permanent easements on properties that would require occupants of housing on those properties to be full-time residents.
The Methow was love at first sight since we laid down our roots here 20 years ago. It's been such a pleasure to be involved in the community, from coaching the Methow Valley Killer Whales to cofounding Sam and Augie's Mercantile. The last ten years I've been very fortunate to work for the Methow Conservancy,
The Methow Housing Trust wants to hear what is important to you in the work we do to provide permanently affordable, quality housing for residents of the Methow Valley. Throughout 2021 we will be hosting small group discussions with a focus on learning what is important to you, and how we can reach our community goals for housing security better, together. Sign up to our Community Voices Email List to be notified of these opportunities.
The world, our local community and our personal lives have all felt a tectonic shift this year. We know this for sure, and yet, we are not entirely sure what the shift means yet. What has changed permanently? What helpful lessons have we learned that might make us stronger and wiser moving forward? And how will we react to all that is both gained and lost, when that becomes more clear?
I’ve been thinking about this a lot as it relates to housing security (and uncertainty) in the Methow Valley. Too many of our community members face housing uncertainty every day.
Aspen Ostlie-Pritchard was born and raised in the Methow Valley, but never thought she’d be able to buy a house here “because the price of homes is so ridiculous.”
But last month she and her 9-year-old son moved to a newly built home on Canyon Street in Twisp, the final house sold this year by the Methow Housing Trust.
“It’s still a bit surreal that this is mine,” Ostlie-Pritchard said. “I’ve rented all my life.”
Her house is one of nine homes constructed on Canyon Street over the past three years by the nonprofit Methow Housing Trust, which develops affordable housing in the valley. Four more houses will be completed by the Housing Trust on Canyon Street by next summer, and eight houses have been built and sold in Mazama.
For the past eight years, Ostlie-Pritchard and her son Wyatt lived in the Twisp Riverview Apartments, which provides rentals for low-income households. Ostlie-Pritchard worked part-time as a bartender in Twisp. If she worked full-time, even at minimum wage, she said her income would have disqualified her from the subsidized apartment — but would not have provided enough income to afford scarce rental units elsewhere in the valley.
The need to reduce mortgage payments to make ends meet during the COVID-19 crisis is real and necessary for many people. This arrangement made with your lender/ loan servicer, called forbearance, is temporary and you must pay the money back in the future.
For many lenders/ servicers the issue of forbearance is being dealt with on an individual case by case basis. It is important that you contact your lender/ servicer of your loan to find out what they are doing for individuals who need payment relief through forbearance.
Many people are worried that if they enter into forbearance, they will be obligated to pay a large lump sum of money at the end of the forbearance period.
When I accepted the position of Executive Director for the Methow Housing Trust nearly three years ago, I was well acquainted with the Community Land Trust (CLT) model of permanently affordable homeownership - but I was totally unaware of the origins of the model. I soon came to understand that that the CLT model was born out of the Civil Rights Movement in the deep south in the 1960’s, in an effort to create housing equity for people of color who were unable to get a foothold into secure housing in their own communities. Today, the history of our mission feels more relevant than ever - for Black Americans, and for marginalized people in our own community.
The national association of CLT’s shared these thoughts in a recent newsletter:
Four new Methow Housing Trust affordable homes in the McKinney Ridge neighborhood sold to local families this May. The MHT staff and homeowners of the first phase of homes welcomed their new neighbors with a parade on Friday May 15th. The Methow Housing Trust anticipates another 4 families closing on home sales on Canyon Street in early summer.
While these new homeowners have been working to become purchase ready for months, or even years, everything seemed uncertain with the COVID-19 pandemic in March.
There are many different ways that Methow Valley residents become homeowners. One option is to build your own home. Methow Housing Trust values being a steward to our land and building quality, affordable homes. In keeping with these values and the desire to help those in our community, Methow Housing Trust is developing resources to help families build affordable houses on their own or affordably hire a contractor.
