Our Valley, Our Future reports the Chelan and Douglas County area suffers from underproduction of housing that dates back to the 1990's, according to the Washington State Department of Commerce.

To play catch up, 17,000 new homes must be constructed over the next 20 years to restore a healthy housing market. A rate that far surpasses historic averages. Another factor when adding all the new inventory will be 54% will need to be affordable to households earning 80% or less of the area's median income.

Our Valley, Our Future's Chelan-Douglas Housing Solutions Group has found a real mismatch with the local housing needs and the available inventory with some interesting comparisons to housing statewide.

The group has also made 15 recommendations to increase household inventory in the region.

Here are some interesting comparisons to what type of housing we have in Chelan-Douglas County vs. the rest of the state The numbers suggest the local inventory does not look like it does in the rest of Washington and may not be what people want or can afford in the current economy

Census data shows the percentage of occupied, detached single family homes in Chelan/Douglas is 65.2% vs. 62.6% statewide so pretty much on par.

We have fewer multi-family dwellings here than elsewhere in WA;

The percentage of occupied town houses, duplexes, and triplexes is much lower in Chelan/Douglas County than the state 2.5% vs. 4.6%
The percentage of small apartment buildings (5 to 9 units) is lower in Chelan/Douglas County (2.3%) than the statewide average (4.4%)
The percentage of large apartment buildings (10+units) is lower in Chelan/Douglas County than the state's average (9.1 vs. 17.5)