Bremerton landowner's interest leads to affordable housing community

BREMERTON – Doug Whittle owned a modest plot of land tucked in the corner of S Constitution Avenue and W Preble Street on Bremerton's west side, just up the hill from the Charleston Gate to Naval Base Kitsap. Overgrown with blackberry bushes, an abandoned home in the center of the grassy lot became a transient camping spot.

Now, the lot has become the foundation of opportunity for affordable homeownership.

Whittle was flipping houses when he bought the vacant property in 2006. It was just the latest project he hoped to develop, and then the 2008 housing crisis struck and everything was put on hold.

Calls came in from the Kitsap County Sheriff's Office occasionally, notifying him of homeless encampments in the decaying structure, along with calls from the City of Bremerton, telling him the bushes would need to be cleared to avoid a $200 fine per day. When he cleaned the lot, it just brought the campers back.

Realizing then that he’d grown too old for the development process, Whittle turned to Kitsap County’s Habitat for Humanity, where he’d donated a car and some money now and then, among other small gifts. Whittle decided to donate the land to Habitat for Humanity and sell them an adjacent parcel he bought in 2012, for better access to the original plot.

A decade later Habitat for Humanity has erected the Whittle Lane community – named for its largest donor – and on Wednesday broke ground on its fifth and final affordable home that will fill the site. Bremerton Mayor Greg Wheeler, members of the Bremerton Central Lions Club, students from West Sound Technical Center and the new home's owner, Pearl Williams, drove their ceremonial gold shovels into the dirt of the donated land.

An opportunity for achievable homeownership

Williams, 26, had lost everything by age 18.

"I lost my mom, I lost my dad, I lost my childhood home, and I never thought I would get to have a home of my own," Williams said, standing in the grassy square where her new home will be built. "It doesn't feel real still, but it's incredible to think that I'm going to have this source of stability soon."

The Whittle Lane community has been growing slowly since 2016, when the first two homes were first built in partnership with Habitat for Humanity. Two more houses were then built in 2019 after a brief hiatus, as the organization focused its efforts on a project in Port Orchard.

The four existing homes are occupied by four different families, one with three generations living under a five-bedroom roof, are all selected from a pool of applicants by Habitat for Humanity, said CEO Annette Houchin. The organization selected Williams, a cousin of one of the neighborhood's families, for the final home.

"It's clear that when people come together, we are a stronger and more vibrant as a community," Wheeler said Wednesday, standing before the golden shovels. "Homes like this one are supporting more housing access, enhancing neighborhoods, adding to the supply of affordable housing, and contributing to our community's resilience."

“I'm very pleased that it got developed,” Whittle said, mentioning that he swings by the community one or two times a year to check its upkeep. “I think they're a very valuable asset to the community, and that's why I gave them the land.”

Habitat for Humanity has built homes for over 100 families in Kitsap County since 1990, the organization reported in a press release, and believes in “empowering families to achieve strength, stability, and self-reliance through affordable homeownership.”

Families looking to purchase a Habitat for Humanity home typically earn about 35% to 60% the area's average income, Houchin said, and they will pay low-interest loans tailored to stay below 30% of the household’s monthly income. Habitat for Humanity then subsidizes a forgivable “silent” second mortgage that contributes to closing costs. All together, the family’s loan will likely amount to about $200,000.

The homes act as an assisted entryway to a competitive housing market in Kitsap County, making the competition for these homes steep as well, Houchin said.

The median listing for a home in Bremerton is $505,000, according to Realtor.com, pulling from a pool of 420 current home listings that range from $30,000 to $2.8 million.

Despite the competition for affordable first time homeownership opportunities, Habitat for Humanity has seen applicants come up short on even the lowest payment to cover their portion of the loan as the housing market inflates, Houchin said. Applicants still must meet the same standards as higher earning applicants while exhibiting steady employment for two years and enough income to cover their mortgage payment.

“It’s getting really tough for us to figure out how we can find enough subsidy money so that they can still afford to buy the house,” she said.

Habitat for Humanity is looking for additional funding from the Kitsap County community and still needs $75,000 to complete construction on the fifth as well, though the Bremerton Central Lion’s Club has stepped in with a sizable donation.

Bremerton Lions invest

At the top of the groundbreaking ceremony Amanda Harvey of the Bremerton Central Lions Club handed over a $75,000 check to Shannon Michlitsch, Habitat for Humanity’s director of development, to cover half of the cost of construction.

This year marks the Lions Club’s 100th year anniversary, and they wanted to celebrate with a big project that “we could not only put our money into, but really get involved more emotionally and part of a more community type outreach,” said club treasurer Jeff Reynolds.

Coming up on their centennial, the Bremerton Central Lions Club also donated $50,000 to the Roxy Theatre, $25,000 to Holly Ridge Center and $40,000 to the Salvation Army, Reynolds said. Since the club’s charitable foundation formed in 1989, members have invested almost $1.4 million back into their community.

The Lions Club was looking for “something kind of special that we could put our money behind,” Reynolds said. “You cut a check and you quasi-forget about it, but on this project, we can actually show up as a group and do parts of the construction ourselves.”

Some of the club’s more skilled members will be able to assist with certain construction projects, while other members will put in their work when Habitat for Humanity reaches a particular phase of construction where a lot of hands are needed, regardless of skill.

The Lions Club also brought in students from West Sound Technical Center, who will collaborate on constriction, in the interest of nurturing a new generation of builders and providing training opportunities. The students will create the structure’s framing at the school and deliver the premade pieces to the site for assembly.

The generosity of Whittle, the Lions Club, private and public donors and volunteers “has made it possible to realize the dream of homeownership for local families,” said Michlitsch in the press release.

Habitat for Humanity hopes to have construction on the home completed by November. The organization is still looking for volunteers to assist with construction.

This article originally appeared on Kitsap Sun: Bremerton street goes from overgrown to affordable housing community