Born and raised on Whidbey Island, Shantel Porter knew it was where she would return when her life suddenly took a new path.

In May of 1999, Porter had moved back to Oak Harbor from Kirkland after she found out she was pregnant. She was no longer in a relationship with the baby’s father. She moved into her mother’s Oak Harbor home, and soon learned that her unborn baby would be born with a bilateral cleft palate.

She knew she couldn’t live at her mother’s house forever. Unemployed and expecting, Porter turned to the Housing Authority of Island County to determine what housing options she had.

This week, Porter, now 30 and the mother of 4-year-old daughter Bailie, talked about her struggle to find affordable housing as a single parent on Whidbey Island.

Bailie’s cleft palate prevented Porter from immediately returning to work. Now a cheerful and talkative little girl, Bailie was once unable to suck a bottle. Daycare facilities would not accept her, and friends and family were too uncomfortable and scared with the responsibility of trying to feed her, an act which involved squeezing drops of milk into her mouth.

While the cleft palate was another hurdle for the two to clear, Porter said it also became a blessing in disguise.

“Because of her disability we got put at the top of the list and got housing right away,” she said.

Porter enrolled in the TANF (Temporary Assistance for Needy Families) and FSS (Family Self-Sufficiency) programs, and she and Bailie were able to move into their own apartment. Because she received a Section 8 housing voucher towards partial payment of her rent, it enabled her to participate in FSS, which allowed her to work while earning escrow money in the program.

After Bailie had multiple reconstructive surgeries for her birth defect, Porter was finally able to return to her profession as an oral surgery assistant in 2000.

While grateful to have her own apartment, Porter said low-income housing was not the best place to raise her daughter. The combination of thin walls and loud neighbors made the situation even more difficult.

“They’re not great places,” she said. “The low-income places to live are built low income.”

Porter remembers the neighbor below her banging on the ceiling when Bailie was learning how to crawl because the neighbor felt it was too noisy.

People looked at Porter differently, too, because with living in the low-income housing complex came the stigma that Porter wasn’t working hard enough, or was trying to somehow cheat the system.

“You do get that situation because you see a lot of it,” she said.

Making the move to ownership

After living in one subsidized apartment complex and a trailer at a trailer park, Porter knew she wanted to own a home.

“I was sick of throwing my money away to rent,” she said. “I was ready to buy a house and get out of renting.”

The FSS program gives participants of the Section 8 rental assistance program a financial incentive to working families. Like Section 8 housing, the more money Porter earned, the more she had to pay as her portion of the rent. The FSS program differs slightly because it allows participating families to put the money saved by the Housing Authority into an escrow account. The more Porter earned, the more the Housing Authority saved and put towards her goal of owning a home.

When she graduated from the FSS program in June of 2002, Porter had over $8,000 in escrow. She had searched the Oak Harbor area for a home, in order to be near her family, but found nothing she liked in her price range. She was pre-approved for a loan up to $105,000 to purchase a house, but that money didn’t go far, she said.

“It’s hard to find anything decent at that price,” Porter said.

Eventually, she wound up buying in Oak Harbor; a cinder-block, ranch-style house that came with a $112,000 price tag.

Porter was successful in her housing search. But Teri Anania, FSS coordinator for the Housing Authority, said the lack of affordable housing for single parents has her discouraging new families from moving to Whidbey Island.

“Unfortunately, this island isn’t very low-income single-parent friendly,” she said.

When she is contacted by off-island families looking to move to Whidbey, she asks them why they are interested in living on the island. Without a family network or job to support them, Anania cannot recommend they move.

“I try to discourage them from coming here,” she said.

The rural character is a big draw for many families, but the lack of affordable housing and job opportunities is not a good combination for many.

“It’s not cheap to live here,” Anania said. There isn’t a whole lot available.”

The FSS program has helped many families, she said, but could face the chopping block after 2005. Financed by a Housing and Urban Development grant, the federal government has not decided yet whether to continue funding for the program.

Anania’s position is funded through next February, but after that she is unclear whether she and the 66 families in the program will see it continue.

“It’s kind of scary the federal government wants to ax this program,” she said. “It’s one of those programs that gets people off assistance and on their feet.”

Now having lived in her home for the past two years, Porter said purchasing it was a great feeling.

“I don’t think there are enough places for the people that are considered low income, because the rent is pretty high,” she said.

While Porter’s situation was not unique to Whidbey Island, her spirit was what expanded her possibilities, according to Anania. A common trend in how much families succeed is how hard they work for it.

“She was very motivated,” Anania said. “If they want something bad enough, it’s theirs.”

Editor’s note: This week’s installment of “This is the Place I Call Home” is the last in a three-part series highlighting individuals and families who live in affordable housing in Island County.