Olympic Housing Trust
“We provide permanently affordable housing to communities on the north Olympic Peninsula”
News to Know
We invite you to our holiday party on Monday, December 9 at 6 pm at the historic Palindrome. This is your annual opportunity to gather with our entire team and local supporters and give us that spirited encouragement and financial push to keep this good work blazing forward. Delicious food and locally crafted wine and cider provided!
Did you know we accept donations of houses and land? We are debuting our Housing Legacy program which allows us to inexpensively meet our local housing need while providing potential tax benefit and simplified estate planning for donors.
Together with the Jefferson Land Trust we are exploring a first of its kind project in Chimacum to create housing while protecting farmland and habitat.
Find out more on our Chimacum Commons project page.
The Dundee Hill project is nearly fully funded but we’re not there yet. Your gift will help push us over the finish line!
Visit the campaign page to give today.
Find and support Olympic Housing Trust on these trusted sites
Project Briefs
Dundee Hill
We are thrilled to be developing our flagship homeownership project in Jefferson County. Born out of a generous donation of land, we are able to build five new permanently affordable townhomes to neighbor an existing community garden. This project aligns our commitment to both housing and food resiliency.
Learn more and follow our progress with Dundee Hill here.
On-site community garden, est. 2007
Chimacum Commons
Together with the renowned Jefferson Land Trust, a conservation nonprofit, we are exploring an innovative housing development that would serve the agricultural residents and rural character of Chimacum. We are responding to today’s moment of need while designing for future generations of farmers, fish and forests.
Learn more and follow our progress with Chimacum Commons here.
Project partner and sponsor
Concept art for the Dundee Hill development combining food and housing resiliency
Dundee Hill community gardeners
Planting at Red Dog Farm. Photo by Mae Wolfe
Project design team on-site at the Commons
Rooted in Community
Olympic Housing Trust is a community land trust serving Jefferson and Clallam County. We serve individuals who live in this area and can qualify for a mortgage, but cannot afford to purchase their own house. By leveraging public and private subsidies, we work to bring down the cost of the house to a reasonable amount, and in exchange the home buyer agrees to a ground lease agreement capping the future resale of the home. This allows for permanently affordable housing now and into the future.
Community land trusts are a model that is rooted in the goal of strengthening a community’s social fabric and resilience through stewarding resources its most vital resources - land and housing.
We are designed to be guided by local needs and priorities through our membership model and board composition: anyone can become a member of Olympic Housing Trust, which gives them the opportunity to vote on important decisions, and one third of our board is reserved for the people who are most impacted by our housing crisis. Learn more on our About page.
Responding to Local Needs
Housing trusts are flexible enough to serve the needs of a specific community, and Olympic Housing Trust aims to be responsive to the local housing landscape. We hope to provide various housing opportunities, including home ownership, workforce rentals, intentional housing developments, mobile or tiny home communities, cooperative housing, and small multi-family housing units. Every home we build or steward will be protected as permanently affordable housing.
Stewardship
Olympic Housing Trust is committed to stewarding community resources. We don’t just help families secure housing, we ensure their housing remains in good condition and homeowners remain housed through providing homeowner support and building a reserve of funds for major home repairs - like roof replacements. Olympic Housing Trust also aims to steward community resources beyond housing. For instance, we hope to enhance local food security through stewarding community gardens.
