Dear Washington County,

This has been a hard time for housers and our community writ large. As we make progress on addressing the housing crisis facing our community, the region, and the nation, the noise at the federal level is impacting our work and threatening stability for thousands. Last month I shared the impacts known at that time, and unfortunately, there is more to share.

Layoffs at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) in Washington, D.C., the Seattle Region 10 Office, and at the Portland Field Office will impact our department and the industry. As part of implementing recent executive actions, HUD has ended our access to Continuum of Care technical assistance. Key HUD websites, reports, and advisories have disappeared. Beyond these industry impacts, we know that many in our community are concerned about actions from the federal government that threaten employment, stability and financial supports that so many families relay on.

Despite this, and because of the leadership of policymakers at the state and local level, there is hope for our community. I am proud to say that we recently submitted a request budget of nearly $188 million for the Department of Housing Services, not including our Housing Authority of Washington County activities. Leaning into our values when drafting a budget is imperative, and it would be lost on me as the last day of Black History Month to not convey our community’s many housing disparities. And as Martin Luther King Jr. once said, “budgets are moral documents.”

Amid uncertainty and revenue reductions, it is essential we uplift and praise the exceptional service that allows us to continue to be recognized by HUD as a top performer. Because of this exceptional service, we are receiving 50 more Veteran Affairs Supportive Housing vouchers in Washington County and, hot off the press, HUD approved our application for Tenant Protection Vouchers for our Section 18 disposition of 60 Public Housing units. This means all of these residents will be fully supported in their next housing chapter.

I am thrilled to celebrate these milestones, and I know we all need these moments of celebration now more than ever.

Best, 

Molly Rogers

Third metro-bond funded affordable housing property breaks ground in Beaverton

On the last day of January representatives from Washington County were invited to celebrate the groundbreaking of Elmonica Station, the latest affordable housing community to undergo construction led by the City of Beaverton. With its development carried out by REACH CDC and Mercy Housing, and construction by Colas, this project will bring 81 new affordable homes to our county’s residents.

The Housing Authority of Washington County is proud to be supporting this important project by providing eight Project-Based Vouchers, which will help households, some of whom are transitioning from homelessness, have a safe and affordable place to call home. The county has also supplied federal HOME Investment Partnership Program funds and Housing Production Opportunity Funds, administered by the Department of Housing Services and Office of Community Development.

Led by our city partner, this brand-new community will be completed next summer near its namesake, the Elmonica MAX station, thanks to the regional Metro housing bond. Once finished it will provide families with low and extremely low incomes studio, one-, two-, and three-bedroom apartments. Designed and created through community input, it will include various amenities, and on-site wrap-around services to residents by local non-profit Bienestar.

Ulysses's story: Overcoming disability with help from the Mainstream Voucher

“As someone who is blind and hard of hearing, I have some barriers that I have had to overcome,” shared Ulysses when first asked about their journey to housing.

Ulysses is a member of Washington County’s Resident Advisory Board since 2024, and a renter who relies on a voucher through the Housing Authority of Washington County. They have gone through many hardships in their life. Ulysses was born with total blindness and lost most of their hearing by age 7. As an adult, they experienced further health issues as they suffered from a heat-related medical emergency in 2016.

Ulysses had moved out of an unsafe home and had to search for the right programs to help them find the housing they needed. “I was very new to the program, I didn't know what a voucher was, what the difference between PSH (Permanent Supportive Housing) or public housing was... I didn’t know any of those things,” they said. “No one really told me how to apply for a voucher or anything like that. People told me to apply to a waitlist, but I didn’t know it was attached to a specific property.”

Ulysses persisted while waiting. In 2023, an increase in funding for the Mainstream voucher program finally gave them the opportunity and a path towards housing stability that they’ve benefited from to this day. Mainstream vouchers are dedicated to help people with disabilities under age 65, who often suffer higher risk of homelessness. Now with stable housing and an important role on our Resident Advisory Board, Ulysses is looking forward to what’s next. To continue reading about Ulysses’s housing journey, visit our blog page.