Cordova housing committee meets Tuesday as town works on shortage of at least 40 homes

Cordova's Housing Supply Accelerator Committee meets Tuesday, Oct. 6, to continue its work on the town's housing shortage, which a 2024 study put at no fewer than 40 rental and for-sale homes.

The only discussion item on the agenda is Mayor Kristin Smith's report on the Northwest Community Land Trust's annual gathering in Sitka. The meeting runs from 7 to 9 pm in the mayor's conference room at the Cordova Center, 601 First St. The agenda doesn't include a public comment period.

The 2024 Prince William Sound housing needs assessment found Cordova needs at least 20 more one- to two-bedroom rental units and 20 more two- to four-bedroom homes for sale, along with senior housing. It found that worn-out homes are leaving the market faster than new ones are being built.

On paper, Cordova has plenty of empty housing. The assessment put the town's 2021 vacancy rate at 19%, but about 38% of the roughly 200 vacant units were held for seasonal or recreational use, and the study says cannery worker housing inflates vacancy figures, particularly in Cordova.

The committee heard in August from a speaker with the Sitka Community Land Trust, which uses a model where a resident owns the house and a trust owns the land under it. At that meeting, Smith pointed to a gap in federal help: Cordova isn't eligible for many U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development programs because local incomes are too high, she said, yet "none of those take into account the cost of living in this community."