Chelan, Douglas counties invite public input on five-year housing plan

WENATCHEE — Chelan and Douglas counties are asking residents to weigh in on a new regional roadmap for addressing homelessness — one that aims to balance immediate needs, long-term housing investments, and collaborative partnerships across agencies and communities.

The 2025–2030 Chelan-Douglas Homeless Housing Strategic Plan, developed jointly by both counties, outlines goals to reduce homelessness, expand access to affordable housing, and strengthen local service networks. It was shaped through a mix of public feedback, nonprofit input, and guidance from regional groups such as Our Valley Our Future (OVOF), whose visioning work helped steer priorities like housing stability, prevention, and cross-sector collaboration.

A public hearing is scheduled for 10:30 a.m. Monday, Nov. 3, at the Chelan County Administration Building, 400 Douglas St. in Wenatchee. Written comments will also be accepted until the hearing closes; they may be mailed or delivered to the Chelan County Economic Services Office, 400 Washington St., Wenatchee, WA 98801.

What’s in the plan already

The five-year plan sets a regional framework focused on five key pillars:

• Prevention and early intervention, to reduce the number of people entering homelessness.
• Crisis response, improving shelters and outreach.
• Permanent housing solutions, including supportive and affordable units.
• System coordination, to streamline services and share data.
• Community engagement and accountability, keeping progress visible to the public.

According to the draft, implementation will unfold in stages between 2025 and 2030. Early phases will prioritize data gathering, coordinated entry improvements, and funding alignments; later stages will focus on construction and service expansion. The counties note that the plan will require “broad-based collaboration and sustained investment,” though specific cost estimates will be refined as programs and partnerships take shape.

How public input has already shaped the plan

Much of the plan’s framework reflects consistent public themes gathered during listening sessions and surveys: An emphasis on prevention, more year-round shelter capacity, and transparency in tracking outcomes. Residents repeatedly called for greater coordination among agencies, a request the plan directly answers by proposing a unified regional data system and shared governance model.

OVOF’s input echoed many of the same concerns but also pushed for a stronger focus on upstream solutions — addressing root causes like workforce housing shortages, behavioral health access and economic mobility. In the final version, many of those elements were partially adopted, with OVOF’s “systems thinking” approach evident in the plan’s cross-sector goals. However, OVOF’s call for region-wide affordability benchmarks, which were a key part of its 2023 housing visioning, was not fully integrated, leaving those standards to be determined in future implementation.

Where public sentiment and OVOF recommendations overlapped, the plan is strongest: Both emphasized collaborative leadership and local flexibility rather than one-size-fits-all mandates. Divergences arose mainly in scope — public feedback leaned toward immediate shelter and safety concerns, while OVOF advocated longer-term structural reform.

What comes next

County officials stress that this draft is just a starting point. Following the Nov. 3 hearing, staff will compile feedback and may incorporate revisions before final adoption. The plan anticipates mid-2025 as the launch for initial actions, with a progress review scheduled at the halfway mark in 2027.

As the counties prepare to finalize their strategy, transparency and accountability remain top public concerns. Oversight of implementation — and any potential conflicts of interest — will rest with county housing advisory committees and interagency partners. Commissioners have pledged to maintain open communication as programs evolve.

For residents, the upcoming hearing represents a chance to help define what an equitable, sustainable approach to housing looks like in the Wenatchee Valley, and to ensure their voices guide the region’s next five years of investment and care.

Andrew Simpson: 509-433-7626 or andrew@ward.media