There’s an update to this story – check out our post “Could a Revolving Loan Help Puget Sound Shorelines“.
Please join the Habitat Strategic Initiative on March 31, 2021 to learn more about one of our National Estuary Program funded projects, the “Residential Shoreline Loan Program Feasibility Study.” Aimee Kinney, of the Puget Sound Institute (PSI), will highlight the results of the feasibility study, conducted by PSI and partners, for development of a revolving loan fund. A revolving loan fund would finance low-interest loans for residential shoreline projects, like hard armor removal, soft-shore stabilization, and elevating or moving homes landward to reduce flooding risk as sea level rises.
Webinar details
March 31, 2021
10:00 – 11:00am Pacific Time
Register in advance for this webinar
After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar.
Project Summary
Since 2014, local Shore Friendly programs have offered technical assistance and financial incentives to encourage voluntary armor removal projects on residential parcels. Local programs have engaged with hundreds of waterfront homeowners and facilitated restoration of roughly 4,000 linear feet of critical beach habitat. However, existing financial incentives are not sufficient to address the cost barrier associated with expensive marine construction projects. A revolving loan fund is an innovative approach to providing low-cost financing as an inventive approach. The approach could support development of a new Shore Friendly incentive to help Puget Sound homeowners finance beach restoration and sea level rise adaptation.
Puget Sound Institute, Coastal Geologic Services, and Northern Economics assessed the feasibility of a program that would finance projects to improve shoreline ecosystem health. Because sea level rise is expected to exacerbate the negative impacts of existing armor on Puget Sound beaches and the species dependent on them, this study also explores raising homes to reduce coastal flooding risk and moving homes away from retreating bluffs as target activities that could be financed through a residential shoreline loan program.
This project was selected for funding by the Habitat Strategic Initiative Advisory Team with Puget Sound Geographic Funds (otherwise known as NEP Funds) in 2018, and is associated with NTA 2018-0266.
Project Leads
Aimee Kinney, Puget Sound Institute
Jim Johannessen, Coastal Geologic Services
Mike Fisher, Northern Economics
Please contact Jennifer Griffiths (jennifer.griffiths@dfw .wa.gov) or Cynthia Catton (cynthia.catton@dnr.wa.gov) with general questions regarding the Habitat Strategic Initiative and Cynthia Harbison (cynthia.harbison@dfw.wa.gov) regarding the webinar. Follow the work of all the Strategic Initiatives on our blog.