PORT TOWNSEND — The City Council on Tuesday unanimously authorized City Manager David Timmons to sign a contract of $52,000 with a Medina-based consulting firm to conduct a housing needs assessment for the city and East Jefferson County.
Timmons told the council that the project would be paid for in part through $40,000 in federal community development block grant funds.
The study will put the city in the position of requesting future funding through federal housing grants, the city manager said.
“It will really document our need for housing,” Timmons said during the council meeting at the Harris Street Fire Hall.
The city was sending out letters to other private-sector entities, including banks, asking for donations that would pay the $12,000 balance that the city would otherwise be left holding.
The funding is not budgeted and would have to be pulled from the city’s supplemental budget if no private donations came through.
“There are a lot of financial institutions that have an interest in housing projects that would donate the money,” Timmons said.
The city manager said it was his experience that millions of dollars could come back to the city as a result of the $52,000 investment for housing benefits to the city and county.