8A
THE HOUSING CRUNCH
THE DAILY ASTORIAN • FRIDAY, OCTOBER 28, 2016
County: Solutions remain a work in progress
Continued from Page 1A
The cities and county are also
at the mercy of private develop-
ers willing to invest. Develop-
ers are able to build more homes
and make more money in the Port-
land metro area than they can on
the coast.
“In the end, you need some-
body with the buildable land, and
the money to build something
that hopefully people can afford,”
Rohne said.
Local
developer
Richard
Krueger recently proposed build-
ing a 48-unit apartment complex
in Miles Crossing south of Astoria,
but the project was denied by the
Clatsop County Planning Com-
mission based on concerns from
neighbors. Krueger withdrew his
appeal to county commissioners
this month.
When adding up all the housing
limitations in the region, County
Manager Cameron Moore said,
it does not leave the community
much to work with.
Moore, however, remains
optimistic.
“If the economy continues to
do well here, and we continue to
experience population growth,
I’m sure we will see develop-
ers that are interested, much like
the developer in Miles Crossing,”
Moore said.
Clatsop County
census and
housing data
101
PACIFIC
103
Long
Beach
4
401
WAHKIAKUM
Wash.
Ore.
Warrenton
Astoria
30
202
Seaside
Cannon
Beach
CLATSOP
26
TILLAMOOK
N
101
Source: U.S. Census Bureau
Item
Population, 2015 est.
Population, 2010 est.
Population per square mile (2010)
Land area in square miles (2010)
Under age 18, 2015
Under age 18, 2010
65 years and over, 2015
65 years and over, 2010
High school graduate or higher, age 25 or older*
Bachelor’s degree or higher, age 25 or older*
In civilian labor force, age 16 or older*
Median household income (2014 dollars)*
Housing units, 2015
Housing units, 2010
Owner-occupied housing units*
Median value, owner-occupied housing units*
Median selected monthly mortgage costs*
Median gross rent*
Building permits, 2015
*2010-14
Clatsop
Oregon
37,831
37,037
44.7
829
19.6%
20.5%
20.0%
16.6%
90.9%
23.6%
60.3%
$47,337
21,928
21,546
62.7%
$248,300
$1,526
$825
208
4.03 million
3.83 million
39.9
95,988
21.4%
22.6%
16.4%
13.9%
89.5%
30.1%
62.4%
$50,521
1.72 million
1.68 million
61.5%
$234,100
$1,591
$894
17,510
Alan Kenaga/EO Media Group
Political will
Inside the Clatsop County
Community Development Depart-
ment, staff is actively looking
for ways to address the housing
crunch.
Community
Development
Director Heather Hansen said
the county has teamed up with
Clatsop Economic Development
Resources and the Columbia-Pa-
cific Economic Development Dis-
trict on an affordable and available
housing task force.
In addition, the county works
closely with the nonprofit Clatsop
Community Action.
“The frustrating part is we all
describe what the problem is, but
then we are not really sure what to
do about it,” Hansen said. “It takes
a lot of political will and land.
What is needed is pretty much
every kind of housing.”
After several task force meet-
ings, local leaders have decided
Danny Miller/The Daily Astorian
Richard Krueger, left, listens
during the Clatsop County Plan-
ning Commission’s deliberation
on his proposed Miles Cross-
ing property in July. The Clatsop
County Planning Commission de-
nied the proposed 48-unit proper-
ty near Lewis and Clark Elemen-
tary School in Miles Crossing.
Clatsop County Manager Cameron Moore gives his report during a
meeting of the county Board of Commissioners.
to take on the housing crunch one
project at a time. “Each city has its
own issues, that’s why we shifted
gears saying lets do this proj-
ect-by-project,” Hansen said.
Alternate housing
The county’s Community
Development Department is doing
its part by staying open minded to
alternative housing. If someone
wants to put a boat on their yard,
live in a sheltered home or even
build a treehouse, county staff is
willing to work with the applicant.
Every type of housing helps,
Hansen said, especially for those
Joshua Bessex/The Daily Astorian
relocating to the region for work.
“It came to light that businesses
are having problems. They’re hav-
ing to put people in hotels, liv-
ing on people’s sofas or living in
their cars,” Hansen said. “People
are actually accepting jobs and
then pulling out at the last minute
because the couldn’t find a place
to live.”
When looking at unincorpo-
rated Clatsop County, some point
to the Knappa area as a place
for housing. Yet most of the east
county is already privately held by
owners who are not interested in
building large developments.
Rohne, who represents the east-
ern part of the county, said his
inland region is not as sought after
as the coast. There is a house next
to Rohne’s farm in Brownsmead
that is for sale, he said, and no one
seems to be looking at it.
“Honestly, I don’t know if peo-
ple want to live out here,” Rohne
said. “They want to live between
Astoria and Cannon Beach.”
Solutions
A hurdle for housing on the
coast is state regulations that dis-
courage high density housing in
unincorporated areas. The idea is
to protect farm and forest land, but
in Clatsop County, such land is
mostly what is left to be developed.
Rohne said the county could
get creative and try to get permis-
sion from the state to rezone cer-
tain forest land for housing.
If the state approved the zone
change, it could be done in specific
areas close to transportation and
sewer systems without impacting
much of the existing farm and for-
est land.
“We could work out a deal and
get land that is out of the flood
zone,” Rohne said.
The housing crunch is some-
thing government alone cannot fix.
Moore said a solution will take
collaboration between the pub-
lic and private sectors. Many res-
idents point to elected leaders for
results, but Moore said the gov-
ernment should not be solely
responsible. “I’m not sure every-
one wants to see your county gov-
ernment, for instance, building
and managing housing and sell-
ing housing,” Moore said. “That’s
not really what we are equipped to
do.”
Solutions remain a work in
progress.
“It’s one of several issues we
are going to have to figure out,”
Moore said. “I think there are
some good efforts underway to
at least identify the scope of the
problem.”
Gulasky found space in Nehalem after
renting week-to-week in Cannon Beach
Steady income
not always a fix
ordan Gulasky and her partner
recently relocated from Cannon
Beach, where they rented week
to week, to Nehalem, where they
found a “super affordable” home
to buy.
Gulasky and her husband
worked at Sea Level Bakery
in Cannon Beach. With a com-
bined income of about $40,000 a
year, they struggled to find a new
place to live after leaving their old
residence.
J
“In spite of our connectivity
and how much we are in the com-
munity serving coffee and baking
bread, we gave up that lease for a
myriad of reasons and are now in
a friend’s extra space paying her
week to week,” Gulasky said this
summer. “There’s no rental agree-
ment and we would have loved to
find one.”
Gulasky also spoke about the
lack of community in Cannon
Beach in connection to the lack of
housing.
“It’s been pretty frustrating and
there’s definitely the idea of being
a young person and wishing there
was a community, that there were
other people in my age range who
work similar jobs,” she said. “No
one else can find a way to live
here, so we have a severe lack of
youth community. I travel pretty
far to engage in activities with
people my age.”
Gulasky, who now works at
Oregon Coast Cannabis in Manza-
nita, said the move was positive in
that she found “more of a commu-
nity” just south of Cannon Beach.
She said Cannon Beach has many
second homes and little affordable
housing.
— Lyra Fontaine
Mom with autistic child in Cannon Beach
makes too much for affordable home
Lives with sister,
and four others
hen Amber Gage moved to
the coast from Oklahoma to
work for Vacasa in the summer,
she moved into a unit at Shore-
wood Apartments, a subsidized
housing development in Cannon
Beach with a lengthy waitlist.
However, the move became
the “worst experience of her life”
when the apartment manage-
ment told her that the $27,000 she
makes each year was too high for
her to be eligible for the apart-
ment. Gage, a single mother, has
an autistic child who has “back-
tracked” due to the experience,
she said.
Gage and her two young chil-
dren had to relocate to her sister’s
home in Manzanita. There are
seven people living in a two-bed-
room home. Gage said she felt
homeless.
This week, Gage hopes to hear
back from a possible house to rent
in Rockaway Beach. If she ends up
getting the house, she will shift her
housekeeping duties to the area.
— Lyra Fontaine
W
Lyra Fontaine/The Daily Astorian
Amber Gage struggled to find affordable housing when she moved to
the Oregon Coast.
Danny Miller/The Daily Astorian
Michael McNickle, Clatsop County public health director, commutes
daily from McMinnville while he searches for a rental in Astoria.
McNickle: ‘I miss four
hours everyday. I lose all of
that time with my family’
Continued from Page 1A
Rather than spending thou-
sands a month on rent for a place
near his Astoria office, McNickle
prefers making the daily com-
mute. Paying rent on a place in
Astoria does not make much
sense when McNickle already
has mortgage payments to make
in McMinnville.
“Why would I spend more
to rent when I could just live at
home?” he said.
While it has been difficult for
McNickle to find a home in Clat-
sop County suitable for his fian-
cée and two teenagers, he is also
stuck waiting to sell his home in
McMinnville. He is also help-
ing his fiancée sell her home in
McMinnville. Prices are so high
in Clatsop County, McNickle
anticipates having to sell both
McMinnville homes to afford
one in Astoria.
“We don’t really want to buy
anything right away because we
have to sell the ones we have
before we buy something new,”
he said.
McNickle continues to search
for the right place, and the right
buyers for his McMinnville
homes. All the while, he contin-
ues to commute.
“I’m just going to drive until
we can sell it,” he said.
In the winter months,
McNickle said, he sometimes
has to find a hotel in Astoria
because of weather or crashes on
U.S. Highway 26. In the summer,
he is often stuck in traffic.
“I miss four hours everyday,”
he said. “I lose all of that time
with my family.”
— Kyle Spurr