Wong fishes in local Tillamook Coast waters for many species including: salmon, black rockfish, tuna, and lingcod. The majority of his catch is contracted for the Oregon Food Bank and Meals for Seniors, but some is also sold to restaurants or sold direct to consumers. 

The uniqueness of combining housing and agriculture, has opened up some grant opportunities for Wong’s proposed housing plans on Anchor Street in Rockaway Beach. The project received $80,000 from the Tillamook County Housing Production Solutions Fund this year. 

“I’m trying to create my own little ecosystem with housing that supports my business and other businesses,” he said.

Tillamook County Housing Coordinator Parker Sammons said that the Wong’s project application appealed to the Housing Commission because requested funds could feasibly jumpstart the project. 

“It’s very representative of both the needs and technical solutions here,” Sammons said. “[Wong’s] project is on a very difficult lot. It is dedicated as workforce housing, which is a huge benefit in the community, but potentially there’s a hope to allow other businesses to utilize it. All those elements together hit all the check marks and goals for both the Housing Commission and the Grant Fund. We had big projects and small project apply. But, one of the keywords that I hold onto from the mission statement of the Housing Commission is we seek ‘obtainable’ solutions. It’s very good to continue to push forward on larger buildings that really move the needle on the housing crisis here. But, it’s also really important that we support local, smaller projects that are obtainable and can be built sooner and utilize the land that is available."

As per his application, Wong has dedicated his multi-unit building to be used for workforce housing for 30 years. Residents who make 80-120 percent of the area’s median income will be eligible to rent the two-bedroom apartments. Wong has also applied for a $20,000 per unit tax credit from the Oregon Department of Agriculture for housing agricultural employees. If the tax break is awarded, Wong’s monies from the Tillamook Housing Production Solutions Fund will be reallocated to other projects. 

Wong hopes his model makes others reconsider land that is viewed as unbuildable.

“I want to make this open source where other people can take this model and utilize this same kind of footprint elsewhere.”

The full circle-moment of the entire story: Wong unknowingly inspired Sammons along his career path. 

“The first time I met Jeff was in 2019 when I was coming down here for a business school class,” Sammons recalled. “We sat with the community support advisory, and after hearing all their business models, I asked: ‘What is your biggest challenge?’

Wong said: housing. 

“It kind of diverted my entire life path,” Sammons said. “Over the next few years I went into the world of housing issues and investigated all sorts of different solutions and protocols. And here I am in Tillamook County several years later, helping to work on this exact project, which is where my interest in the housing market really kicked off.”