Housing has been a crisis in San Juan County for decades. Owners of seasonal businesses, like restaurants or whale watching companies, have struggled to find places for workers and have been calling for solutions for years. The crunch is now being felt by critical infrastructures like schools, post offices, health care, and county government.

“One deputy recently got a job back in Seattle, and he accepted in part because he and his wife could afford a home there,” San Juan County Sheriff Ron Krebs said.

The sheriff’s office has at least four open positions and Krebs says he is concerned about new employees being able to find housing.

“There is really nothing on the market for under a million dollars,” he said. That price tag is typically out of the budget of working families. The sheriff’s office is considering acquiring a mobile unit, like a trailer, to keep at the Orcas substation for employees to stay while they look for homes, according to Krebs, but that is just one idea.

New Friday Harbor postmaster Elsa Acode has been commuting from Mount Vernon. She found a rental for the month of May, however, this landlord rents the apartment out as a vacation rental during the summer, so it was only available for one month.

Acode does not blame the landlord, “It’s their business, if they can make more money renting it by the day or week, I don’t blame them for doing that,” Acode said.

Commuting is not ideal, with ferries continuing to struggle with crew shortages, especially from Mount Vernon.

“Commuting from Anacortes might not be a big deal, but outside of that, it becomes more difficult,” she said, adding that she sees many island workers making their way from outside the Anacortes area, to the ferry for their job in the San Juans.

Peace Island Medical Center, PeaceHealth, has specialized doctor’s visit frequently. The medical facility recently bought a condo to assist them with a place to stay,

“We did purchase a two-bedroom condominium to house visiting or short-term physicians and other caregivers,” Jack Estrada, Chief Administrative Officer at Peace Island Medical Center, said. The housing crisis has impacted the hospital, he said, and they have had caregivers decline job offers because they were unable to find affordable housing, or available housing to meet their family’s needs.

There are currently five positions opened at Peace Island. A majority have been open for less than a year, according to Estrada, but there are several that have been open for more than a year. When asked how this has impacted the hospital, Estrada said, “as part of a larger health system we are fortunately able to share resources between PeaceHealth United General Medical Center and PeaceHealth St. Joseph Medical Center.” He added that “it’s possible that a delay in filling positions could lead to a temporary reduction in service or change of service dates. Our caregivers are flexible and dedicated, and will continue to do what’s necessary to meet the needs of all our communities.”

According to Estrada, housing is a significant problem for all local employers, not only are reasonably priced housing stock to purchase limited, but rents are also very high.

“Housing has become the bedrock issue in our community that must be addressed before many other problems can be solved,” Ryan Page, San Juan County’s Health and Human Services Affordable Housing Coordinator said. “If you want to address, say, the many reasons why we have a shortage of long-term care providers in the county, you have to solve where to house them before you can really address any of the other issues involved. The same goes for multiple other problems our community faces.”

Louis Prussack, head of Spring Street School International said he has been speaking with the school’s board of trustees regarding housing, adding that “It is the number one threat to finding teachers.”

According to Prussack, the school is trying to be creative and has spoken with the San Juan Community Home Trust to brainstorm.

“We can maybe eek out another year,” he said. “No one working can live here. Even rents are extremely high.”

Fred Woods, Superintendent of the San Juan Island School District said the public school is absolutely having trouble finding housing for employees.

“We have applicants ask about housing, and have had employees move where they could afford to buy a home,” Woods said. Woods moved to the county in 2007, and finding a place to live was not particularly easy then either. “There was only one place available,” he said.

In the past, word of mouth throughout the community has helped, and the school has been able to find places for teachers and staff. He is hoping, that as the district fills three to four open positions for the next school year, they will yet again figure out housing.

“We need to fill these positions,” Woods said, “I’m hoping housing does not impact [the ability to fill them] because this is a have to, not a want to.”

Prussack also said word of mouth has assisted Spring Street in the past, but that the issue has substantially grown.

“Orcas is worse, but we are not far off,” Prussack said. “It’s a big deal for our community, and we better get ahead because are already behind.”

The Home Fund has made a difference, according to Page. The Home Fund was approved by voters in 2020 and is a tax that goes toward affordable housing in San Juan County.

“Between January 2019 and December 2021, the Home Fund distributed just under $3 million in support of local housing efforts,” Page said. “And has already committed another $3 million.”

Thanks to the Home Fund, Page added, 102 rental or owned housing units have been or will be acquired, built, or rehabilitated. The county also currently has grants in place for projects on Lopez, Orcas and San Juan Island.

“There is incredible work being done all over our community by caring citizens working hard to address this issue from multiple angles. Any project that leads to more affordable housing which will stay affordable for the long-term will help,” Page said.

According to Estrada, PeaceHealth will be publishing the “2022 Community Health Needs Assessment” which identifies the lack of available and affordable housing as a key issue for the community. “Without affordable housing, people with low, moderate and middle incomes will have difficulty staying in the community. This has a direct impact on our community’s ability to sustain essential services—education, emergency services, childcare and more,” he said.