Letter to the editor

Make housing a Jensen priority

The population of La Conner is aged and aging. In-migration or family formation by families of low and moderate incomes hasn’t been the case for a decade or more. There is little to no housing available for young families who would like to live here and send their children to La Conner schools.

This has led to frequent calls for “affordable” housing. The prior mayor and town council had a promising opportunity to turn those calls into action when it purchased (and immediately sold) two-thirds of the Maple Avenue ball field for market rate development. In doing so they put aside a purported interest in affordable housing by declining consideration of working with, for example, Skagit Home Trust, in a partnership that could produce affordable housing similar to the options available at Channel Cove.

Now, with the “Jensen” property there is a new opportunity and a new mayor. It is an opportunity to provide affordable housing, either in the form of family-appropriate rentals or by a type of purchase that provides for the land to remain in trust, while the equity in the structure is retained by the new owners. The area is small, but it might be expanded by acquiring the adjoining Jensen-Dunlap property and annexing it into the municipality.

Of course, there are other possible uses for the Jensen property. However, truly affordable housing should be at the top of that list and fully considered, analyzed and investigated by the administration and council.

Bob Raymond

La Conner