CREDIT: COURTESY OF OPAL COMMUNITY LAND TRUST »
JAN 19, 2022
BY
Brandi Fullwood
Libby Denkmann
If you can find a place to live and work on Orcas Island you’re set. But workers and business owners don't want more yurts, cabins, and tents. They want creative solutions for after the big tourism season.
The idyllic horseshoe-shaped island boasts beautiful skylines, lush forests, pristine lakes, and short distances to the beach.
“It’s a different way of life compared to much of the mainland,” says Amy Nesler, a Communications and Stewardship Manager for San Juan Islands Visitor Bureau.
For residents and workers, it’s not enough to be beautiful. Affordability is a key concern year-round and seasonally.
“There's been a lot of economic stress because tourism is one of our biggest industries,” says Nesler. She says Covid 19 is not the sole reason behind challenges, “some of it is just normal flux of trying to run a business on an island.”
Residents point to short-term rental sites like Airbnb and VRBO as a popular scapegoat. But, resident Gillian Smith, writes in an email that it's hard for the community to reach a consensus on whether short-term rentals actually pose a risk.
“Locals hoping to make money from the short-term rental industry don't want to lose the ability to profit off of their properties,” Smith she says, “ many have pinned their hopes, plans for the future, retirements on being able to do so.”
Smith says regardless of the arguments, new solutions are needed.
Amy Nesler agrees, “we don’t necessarily have the zoning areas to create a new neighborhood” she says. Nesler offers that the Island should seek out creative solutions, “maybe we need to build some tiny homes instead of condos.”
Seasonal workers, employers, and fellow islanders are navigating the landscape trying to find places to live, sometimes giving up comfort.
Temporary housing solutions are a dime a dozen. Yurts, tents, trailers, and cabins are a norm for many employees seeking temporary employment in the summer. And, if you move jobs, you likely move housing as well.
“You might find people who have been living on Orcas who have never had an Orcas address,” says Jammal Williams. He says life on the Islands revolves around a scarcity of housing
BY
Brandi Fullwood Libby DenkmannIf you can find a place to live and work on Orcas Island you’re set. But workers and business owners don't want more yurts, cabins, and tents. They want creative solutions for after the big tourism season.
The idyllic horseshoe-shaped island boasts beautiful skylines, lush forests, pristine lakes, and short distances to the beach.
“It’s a different way of life compared to much of the mainland,” says Amy Nesler, a Communications and Stewardship Manager for San Juan Islands Visitor Bureau.
For residents and workers, it’s not enough to be beautiful. Affordability is a key concern year-round and seasonally.
“There's been a lot of economic stress because tourism is one of our biggest industries,” says Nesler. She says Covid 19 is not the sole reason behind challenges, “some of it is just normal flux of trying to run a business on an island.”
Residents point to short-term rental sites like Airbnb and VRBO as a popular scapegoat. But, resident Gillian Smith, writes in an email that it's hard for the community to reach a consensus on whether short-term rentals actually pose a risk.
“Locals hoping to make money from the short-term rental industry don't want to lose the ability to profit off of their properties,” Smith she says, “ many have pinned their hopes, plans for the future, retirements on being able to do so.”
Smith says regardless of the arguments, new solutions are needed.
Amy Nesler agrees, “we don’t necessarily have the zoning areas to create a new neighborhood” she says. Nesler offers that the Island should seek out creative solutions, “maybe we need to build some tiny homes instead of condos.”
Seasonal workers, employers, and fellow islanders are navigating the landscape trying to find places to live, sometimes giving up comfort.
Temporary housing solutions are a dime a dozen. Yurts, tents, trailers, and cabins are a norm for many employees seeking temporary employment in the summer. And, if you move jobs, you likely move housing as well.
“You might find people who have been living on Orcas who have never had an Orcas address,” says Jammal Williams. He says life on the Islands revolves around a scarcity of housing
.
CREDIT: COURTESY OF JAMMAL WILLIAMS
Williams worked on Orcas Island in the winter of 2018 and 2019. At that time he lived in employee housing. He found work as a cook, housekeeper, and casual fine dining server.
In the summer of 2021, he tried to move back to the San Juan Islands. He planned to move to Friday Harbor. He found three jobs but had no luck with housing.
“My credit score wasn’t high enough and the landlord wasn’t comfortable renting to me,” he says.
He is currently based in Houston, Texas taking care of family.
Employee housing meets the needs of many workers. For businesses that can afford it, it’s a tangible solution.
Jocelyn Cecil, the co-owner and manager of Hogstone Wood Oven in Eastsound on Orcas Island, says her business is taking on the challenge.
CREDIT: COURTESY OF JAMMAL WILLIAMS
Williams worked on Orcas Island in the winter of 2018 and 2019. At that time he lived in employee housing. He found work as a cook, housekeeper, and casual fine dining server.
In the summer of 2021, he tried to move back to the San Juan Islands. He planned to move to Friday Harbor. He found three jobs but had no luck with housing.
“My credit score wasn’t high enough and the landlord wasn’t comfortable renting to me,” he says.
He is currently based in Houston, Texas taking care of family.
Employee housing meets the needs of many workers. For businesses that can afford it, it’s a tangible solution.
Jocelyn Cecil, the co-owner and manager of Hogstone Wood Oven in Eastsound on Orcas Island, says her business is taking on the challenge.
CREDIT: KUOW/BRANDI FULLWOOD
For the upcoming season, Hogstone aims to rent and subsidize condos to their employees.
“If we don’t take a small hit” she says “we may not be able to have anyone work for us.”
Hogstone Wood Oven is temporarily closed until spring due to renovations.
CREDIT: COURTESY OF JOCELYN CECIL
Currently the restaurant employs two people–Jocelyn Cecil and Jay Blackinton. Ideally, their restaurant would have fifteen workers. However, Cecil says it's been harder to find people to work who can also find housing.
Potential employees have offered to live outside in tents.
“It’s very admirable,” Cecil says, but working long hours in a restaurant and going home to sleep outside or in tents is not what they want for employees. “It’s hard on your body, it’s hard on your brain,” she says.
Hogstone employees have had to live in substandard housing in the past.
“We’re looking forward to the 2022 season being a touch more normal.”
Lisa Byers the Executive Director of OPAL Community Land Trust says it is not ideal to link work and housing. “If you leave your employer you lose your housing” Byers says.
OPAL Community Land Trust is a non-profit organization in Eastsound, on Orcas Island. They provide and create permanently affordable housing options.
Byers has worked with OPAL for twenty six years. She says the organization is working to meet rental needs now more than ever. But that need is overwhelming.
“The local housing market doesn’t work for wage earning people,” Byers says.
San Juan County has the second lowest wages in the state.
“It is a wonderful place,” she says, “but it's got some hidden dark sides.”
Orcas Island is the largest of the San Juan Islands of the Pacific Northwest, which are in the northwestern corner of San Juan County, Washington.
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