Home trust house reaches third and final destination

Submitted by Gay Graham

Home trust supporter

The San Juan Community Home Trust has done it again, and with a special bit of flourish.

A few weeks ago, the organization’s 11th and 12th houses were barged into Jackson Beach and trucked to their permanent lots in the affordable housing project, Sun Rise II. These two structures complete this innovative project of homes, all “recycled” from the Victoria-area on Vancouver Island … all but one.

That last house truly represents the quintessential idea of reuse and recycling. The “Stewart House,” as it is called, came from Decatur Island.

But this wasn’t its first move.

Stewart was originally a Seattle-area home. It was slated for demolition as it sat in the path of the Interstate-5 corridor when it was being constructed in the 1960s. Rather than seeing the house destroyed, the owners had it barged to Decatur Island near this island’s airstrip to become the family’s vacation home.

The Stewart family enjoyed many happy years there but then decided to build a new home. Not willing to see its demise, the family and the home trust fashioned an agreement where Stewart would become the final addition to Sun Rise II.

To see Stewart and the other newly arrived home, “Windsor,” take a short ride on Grover Street to its end. Not only will you see these two houses, but the other 10 homes that are a part of this neighborhood as well.

Congratulations, once again, are due to the home trust for its innovative, recycling and reuse efforts to provide permanently affordable housing on the island.