New HRB boss brings a background in land trusts from Leavenworth.

It’s not an island.

But surrounded by a sea of trees and mountain peaks, the small Cascade tourist town of Leavenworth is well acquainted with the difficulties that sometimes accompany isolation.

Like Bainbridge, Leavenworth has seen its share of retirees and nature lovers snatch up the town’s scarce land. And, like Bainbridge, that influx has priced out low-income workers, many of whom are vital to the local tourism industry.

Which is why the Housing Resources Board has asked Carl Florea, who has spent more than a decade creating affordable housing in Leavenworth, to descend the alpine slopes and help bring affordable housing to Bainbridge.

“They’re similar in a lot of ways,” said Florea, comparing Bainbridge, to Leavenworth, where he’s lived for the past 22 years. “Both are trying to avoid losing the sense of community that comes with having a work force that can live where they work, instead of one that has to come in from somewhere else.”

Come March 1, Florea will become the new director of the HRB, succeeding Bill Reddy, with whom the organization parted ways last fall.

The HRB was founded in 1989 to provide the island with more low-income housing, a commodity that has been disappearing in recent years. Rising home costs have strained many islanders, 23 percent of whom make less than $35,000 a year, according to HRB figures. The group last year purchased the $5.34 million Island Terrace Apartments, a 48-unit complex at the corner of High School Road and Ferncliff Avenue that otherwise would have become market rate housing.

HRB Chair Tina Gilbert said the group has focused most of its energy in the local rental market, but is looking to branch out into home-ownership assistance as well. That, she said, is where Florea comes in.

“Carl was the best fit for us,” she said, citing Florea’s experience with affordable housing, fundraising and grant writing, along with his management style, as boons to his candidacy.

He was chosen from a pool of 35 applicants from across the country, four of which were ultimately interviewed.

Florea serves on the board of the City of Wenatchee Housing Authority and is a member of the Leavenworth City Council. As the Executive Director of affordable housing group Upper Valley MEND, he helped create one of the state’s first Community Land Trusts, a model that has in recent years gained popularity among local affordable housing advocates, including Gilbert and HRB Treasurer Del Miller.

CLT’s vary in structure, but all aim to establish perpetual affordable housing by separating the cost of a home from the cost of the land on which it sits. Income-qualified buyers purchase a home on land leased to them by the CLT, which is in most cases owned by the city and run by a nonprofit.

“The beauty of the community land trust model is that it gives people a place to begin,” Florea said. “It helps them get on the first rung of the ladder, and gain at least some equity. When they’re ready to move on, they leave that rung for someone else.”

Florea said there are now two 10-home CLT developments in Leavenworth. The first was finished in 1998, the second just recently. Both have been successful in bringing affordable housing to a community of 2,000 struggling to maintain its economic diversity.

Florea said he first heard of the HRB last year at a meeting of the Northwest Community Land Trust coalition, where he ran into Miller.

Looking for a change, he had already decided to step down as director of MEND. He gave notice to the organization last May, saying he’d stay on for up to a year to help ease the transition to the new director.

Gilbert and Miller will be among those who help Florea with his transition to the HRB, which Gilbert said is working on a number of affordable housing concepts that could come to fruition later this year.

The group also will begin renovating Island Terrace next month. None of the building’s 120 residents will be displaced as a result of the work.

Florea, on the other hand, will be moving from an island among the trees to an island in Puget Sound.

“It wasn’t an easy decision to leave the community where I’ve lived for 22 years,” he said. “But I’m excited to develop new connections here. I’m one who will jump right in and get started.”