Everyone talks about how expensive it is to live on Whidbey Island these days. In order for regular people to afford living here, a number of innovative programs and funding sources have evolved to help meet the need.
Island Roots Housing–building Generations Place, Tiny Homes in the Name of Christ, Whidbey Home Raising, In Home Suites, Habitat for Humanity of Island County, Housing Authority Island County, and Sunny View Village Oak Harbor, are some models already in place.
Meanwhile, Dan Neumeyer, owner of Jade Craftsman Builders, offers an approach that sustains his company while offering his clients the chance to add to a fund promoting affordable living for others.
“At first I thought of Jade’s contributing a certain percentage. But a problem came up,” Dan explained. “The donation loses 25-35% in income taxes before I donate. This posed an inefficiency to giving. I thought, what if we made this more direct. We could ask if someone building a home could donate without being taxed. What I found was homeowners felt good about doing this. Such a clear logic on the part of the client: I’m fortunate to build, and another person isn’t. Here’s a way I can give.”
Dan invites his clients to make a tax deductible donation of a half to one percent of their building costs to the Whidbey Affordable Housing Fund–WAHF, which is managed by the Whidbey Community Foundation. The funding program has been in place since late 2023.
The WAHF website notes: “…the Whidbey Affordable Housing Fund helps connect nonprofit organizations with donor dollars to support their work on affordable housing projects on Whidbey Island. The primary objective of the WAHF is to support the creation of more perpetually affordable dwellings on Whidbey Island by nonprofit entities.”
A portion of the WAHF funds was used to finance building of two homes in the Upper Langley Co-housing Community, which is a a permanently affordable, deed-restricted community of 16 lots on 10 acres. The key to permanent affordability is a deed restriction limiting the appreciation of the lot and home to 1.5% a year.
In addition to making tax-free donations to WAHF, Jade Builders contributes in other ways by donating labor for various nonprofit projects such as providing finish carpentry for homes at Upper Langley Co-Housing.
“A core idea of this fund is efficiency of financing,” said Dan. “What we found is people we build for care about the community. We’re building for people who are concerned and want to live in a healthy community.”
A healthy community includes housing for teachers, fire fighters, police, restaurant staff, store clerks, healthcare providers, librarians, construction crew, senior citizens and more. Affordable housing for our population requires innovative approaches.
The Island County Housing Authority has prepared a plan for 2025-2030. It notes the difficulty of living affordably in Island County: “Like Washington State’s Department of Commerce, Island County shares the core value that everyone deserves to be housed. Food, shelter and water are the fundamental needs that all people require to survive and grow from. Shelter aka housing has become a more and more challenging need to meet. Since the last plan was written in 2019, a global pandemic occurred changing people’s lives, communities and resources. The cost of living especially housing has gone up dramatically. A Harvard University Joint Center for Housing Study showed that 48.9% of Oak Harbor renters are rent burdened, paying over 30% of their income towards rent. Almost 20% are severely cost burdened meaning they pay over 50% of their income towards rent. This has led to an increase of households who are one crisis away from becoming unhoused. In writing this plan, Island County hopes to put forth some concrete steps to take in the next 5 years to address the needs of the unhoused in our community and prevent more households from falling into homelessness.”
Given the housing challenges faced on Whidbey Island, contributing to a solution is appealing.
“The people we choose to build with were receptive,” added Dan, noting that his ‘ask’ is similar to the example of sitting down and writing tax deductible checks to various organizations, which collectively provides thousands of dollars. “We started asking donating half or 1 percent of a construction budget. On a million dollars that’s $5000.”
Living on Whidbey Island since 1999, and moving from the San Francisco Bay Area, Dan Neumeyer and his wife Elise Miller, who is Goosefoot’s executive director, each support giving back to the community. Goosefoot is a non-profit which runs the Goose Grocer, and manages the Bayview Cash Store site. Goosefoot helps fund community needs such as housing and education, while supporting local economies, providing for childcare and the environment. This month, through the Goose Grocer’s Roundup program, South Whidbey Hearts & Hammers, which provides repairs and upgrades for those who cannot afford them, is receiving Goosefoot’s roundup dollars.
Sitting in the couple’s light-filled kitchen this week, Dan a gentle, soft-spoken unpretentious man, spoke about being part of the solution for affordable housing.
“Both Elise and I have been concerned and are looking for ways to help,” said Dan. “She joined Goosefoot when Generations Place was taking off.”
Generations Place, now under construction, will provide housing for 14 families. The first project of Island Roots Housing, Generations Place is expected to house residents by this summer. Island Roots Housing is but one branch of the Goosefoot Community tree, which supports “…an economically thriving, environmentally resilient and socially inclusive community for all.”
“We were discussing this and we were on the beach reading,” recalled Dan. “We read about a socially conscious builder named John Abrams in Martha’s Vineyard. They’re experiencing something similar to Whidbey. It’s an island. Wealthy people are moving in. They want services. Yet, there’s an increasing divide between wealthy residents and making the island run. Abrams moved his company to Martha’s Vineyard from Vermont, and engaged in building affordable homes.”
Abrams serves on the board for the Housing Bank Fund, which helps “…preserve the Martha’s Vineyard community by establishing a Housing Bank that provides significant permanent funding to advance year-round housing.”
Abram’s approach in Martha’s Vineyard struck a chord with Dan, and he set up the WAHF, which is overseen by the Whidbey Community Foundation.
Before moving to Whidbey Island Dan learned the building business from the ground up as a tween.
“Before moving here I studied architecture at UC Berkeley,” he recalled. “Growing up I apprenticed to a homesteader craftsman who introduced yurts to the West. I started working with him at 11 through my teen years. He took a lot of interest in handcraft skills, and gave workshops on building a yurt. It was very much about democratic design, empowering individuals to shape their own lives, even building their own home. As a teenager, I learned skills and learned to manage crews.
“Later, I did commercial project management—it was great to gain experience in working with contractors, reporting, tracking, cost control. We left—because it was unaffordable—and came up here. There is little commercial construction here. I did not want to commute to the city. We built this house and that segued to Jade. Coming here to do residential work, with expertise doing commercial, I felt I had a good understanding of crafting, design and bringing technical control and understanding of the project.”
Creating mockups and models of design features helps ensure prevention of costly building errors later on, Dan explained. His crew built the guest cabins at the Whidbey Institute, as an example of the company’s work.
In the mean time, Dan is looking at expanding the model he helped create and is inviting other builders to come aboard.
“We’re looking to attract other builders, suppliers and realtors,” Dan added. “We’ve had morning coffee meetings. It’s hard to make the first ask. Other builders are enthusiastic and see the wisdom. In a couple of years of success, the WAHF has earned $63,000 without too much work. There is recognition that the idea is strong.”
For more information, visit Jade Craftsman Builders’ webpage.
Curious about the Whidbey Affordable Housing Fund? Visit this website.
