In our North Cascades valley home, we are starting to work out a kind of pathway forward. The conversation is active. The Town of Winthrop recently signed a resolution declaring a housing crisis in recognition that “inaction will result in irreversible damage to the fabric of the community.” Clearly, housing is at the epicenter of our community’s consciousness, with the median home sale price doubling in the past five years from $270,000 in 2016, to $563,000 in 2021 (YTD), and businesses closing their doors more and more hours and days of the week due to a lack of workforce availability.

There is no time to lose if we wish to ensure that a genuine sense of belonging is still attainable to all of our community members, regardless of a person’s age, income or when they decided to make the Methow their home town.

The Methow Housing Trust is growing our staff as we prepare to scale up our work to develop and preserve more permanently affordable, quality housing for Methow Valley residents. Come join our team!

Hello! I’m Sarah and I am the Director of Outreach here at the Methow Housing Trust. I’m also a MHT homeowner. Last month I talked to many wonderful community members while tabling at grocery stores. I wanted to share some of the frequent conversations had. I imagine many of you have similar questions to those I spoke with. I’ll be posting the Table Talk Q&As over the next few days on our MHT Instagram and Facebook pages. Read on to see them all here.

Get to know the Methow Housing Trust. Who are we? How does owning a home through a community land trust work? What is the difference betweening owning a MHT home and renting in the Methow Valley? Who is eligible for a MHT home? Read on for the answers to these and other common questions.

As the housing crisis in the Methow Valley continues to grow, community investment in the Methow Housing Trust has created 21 permanently affordable homes for ownership by Valley residents. See highlights from the Methow Housing Trust 2020 Annual Report in our most recent blog.

“The eligibility policy is the backbone of our mission,” said Rocklynn Culp, policy committee chair for the Methow Housing Trust, in a statement. “We wrestled with multiple eligibility options for well over a year before landing on the decision that felt right.”

MHT will now offer two options. For a family making up to 100% of the Area Median Income (AMI), the home price and mortgage will be calculated to fit their “wage reality,” according to the housing trust.

Families making 150% of the AMI are newly eligible to apply, and their home sale price will be closer to the market rate, but still subsidized by MHT. The trust will sell up to 25% of its homes to families in the higher wage bracket.

The Winthrop property, a recently approved long plat, includes 14 “shovel-ready” lots, with infrastructure (roads, water, sewer) already established, according to an MHT press release.

“This donation is a huge win for the Methow community, both long and short-term,” said MHT Executive Director Danica Ready. “Because the land donation includes neighborhood infrastructure development already installed, the Methow Housing Trust can get right to work building homes for the families waiting for the opportunity to acquire secure, affordable housing in our community. With real estate values continuing to increase rapidly in our valley, this gift could not have come at a better time.”

On behalf of the Methow Housing Trust board and staff, I’d like to offer you a window into the 2020 learning that we felt was important for us to begin our journey as equitable housing advocates. We welcome your reflections and feedback. The learning never ends. But what we know for sure is this: Now, More Than Ever, secure housing is a community value that we should, and can, create and sustain together.

Jeanne White

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,