About UsOur Mission and History

Our Mission

Our mission is to provide affordable, safe, decent, and stable housing with compassion and integrity.

Our History

Northwest Coastal Housing (NWCH) is a private non-profit (501 C 3) that is governed by a Board of Directors, has paid staff, is self-supporting, uses volun­teers for certain programs and oversees three pro­jects/properties that are each budgeted individually.

The NWCH was formed in 1991 as the Lincoln County Community Development Corporation to develop affordable and decent housing for low-income families and pro­vide rental/home ownership opportunities for those who cannot afford market rate housing. The organization changed its’ name to “Northwest Coastal Housing” in 2014.

The organization is committed to serving as advocate and facilitator for the development of safe and decent shelter, maintaining long term af­fordability of the housing stock and accomplish its mis­sion in a climate where the con­stituents are treated fairly and with dignity. NWCH develops and manages housing for low-income families; persons recovering from mental illness and drug or alcohol addic­tions; and supported housing for developmentally disabled. In addition to fur­nish­ing housing opportunities, NWCH provides Resident Services to residents with the ex­ception of the Alder Hill Apartments. These serv­ices help give low-income tenants opportunities to im­prove their standard of living and their quality of life. These services include health and nutrition workshops, community garden, Kid’s Club, par­ent­ing classes, social activities, social service re­ferrals, conflict resolution, etc.

Our mis­sion statement is “To provide affordable, safe, decent, and stable housing with compas­sion and integrity for all of our neighbors”. Our tag line is “Eve­rybody needs a place to call home”.

A shortage of affordable housing was identified as a re­sult of dwindling economic op­portunities resulting from the diminishing extraction industries of forestry and fishing. A considerable seg­ment of the central coast’s population are employed in the service sector in low paying jobs as the economic shift from the extraction industries to the tourist industry occurred.

This is a break­down of the NWCH portfolio which total 92 units:

1995—The Ridge Apartments in Lincoln City:  80 units of affordable family housing (72 units at 60% and 6 units at 50% or less of the area family adjusted median gross income) with Resi­dent Services provided by the NWCH.

2002—Yaquina Breeze Apartments in Newport:  9 units of supportive housing for persons with mental disabilities and drug/alcohol addiction and making less than 50% of the area’s fam­ily adjusted gross in­come. Resident services provided by the Lincoln County Health and Human Services Department

2005—Alder Hill Apartments in Toledo:  Two one-bedroom apartments for people with 60% or less of the area’s family adjusted gross in­come.

NWCH staffing currently consists of a full time Executive Director, a part time Development Director/Grant Writer and a Contract Bookkeeper. Additionally, NWCH staffing includes two part time Resident Services personnel that administer the "Resident Services Programs and Activities."

Organizational strengths are a committed Board of Directors and Staff, the mission of the organization and the efforts made to obtain non-profit status and certification as a Community Housing Devel­op­ment Orga­nization (CHDO) through the U.S. Department of Housing and Ur­ban De­velopment.

The NWCH is a qualified Community Hous­ing Development Organization (CHDO) through the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD); qualifying in 2005. The NWCH Board of Directors is diversi­fied with strong business leadership. HUD requires that 1/3 of a Board of Di­rectors for a qualified (CHDO) shall be low income or serve low-income neighbor­hoods. Addi­tionally, no more than 1/3 of the Board can be repre­sentative of public agencies (employed or vol­unteer). NWCH has always sought ethnic and economic minorities to serve on the Board of Di­rectors. The NWCH Board of Directors is diversified with strong business lead­ership and meets the require­ments.