City of Wapato
Housing Rehabilitation Program

The City of Wapato has been actively involved in housingrehabilitation since 1986. The need to preserve low-income housing stock in the Yakima Valley has long been recognized as a vital segment of the valley’s housing solution equation. The City’s housing program targets low-income, single-family homes, addressing structural and visual dilapidation, health and safety problems, lead and asbestos abatement, and overcrowding. Typical benefits include improved family health, reduced heating and cooling costs, increased structural life, and neighborhood revitalization. The City of Wapato began partnering with the Yakima Valley Conference of Governments (YVCOG) in 1986. The YVCOG provides the project administration and management elements of the City’s housing rehabilitation program, and regularly seeks and obtains Community Development Block Grant funding for the program.

The City and the YVCOG have enjoyed an extremely successful long-term partnership, having completed 7 individual housing rehabilitation projects since 1986, remodeling a total of 242 homes and directly impacting approximately 990 Wapato residents. The City’s housing program has been recognized by the State of Washington for its continued long-term success, and has been lauded as an outstanding example of a successful housing rehabilitation program. The City’s 2006 program anticipates providing housing rehabilitation, lead and asbestos abatement, and weatherization assistance to a minimum of 15 local families. Additional information may be obtained by contacting Gene Weinmann at (509) 574-1550.