Meet Cory Harrington | New housing specialist, with lived experience

||| FROM MEGAN METCALF for ORCAS COMMUNITY RESOURCE CENTER |||

Raised on Orcas Island, Cory Harrington has lived through nearly every form of island housing—employee housing, living aboard a boat, bus life, building a cabin on his parents’ property, and ultimately developing raw land for creative housing solutions. Now, as the new Housing Support Specialist at the Orcas Community Resource Center, he’s using that hands-on experience to help islanders facing their own housing crises.

Cory Harrington

Harrington returned to Orcas in 2015 to raise his daughter in the same supportive community that shaped his childhood. With four years in utility customer service and six years in land use and building development consulting, he brings both personal understanding and professional expertise to navigating complex housing challenges.

Harrington values showing up for the community that raised him. His volunteer work spans the Orcas Island Food Bank, Orcas Fire & Rescue, the Orcas Housing Collective, and numerous other community organizations.

In his new Housing Support Specialist role, Cory will help community members facing similar challenges that Rene overcame with Resource Center support. Her story shows why this work matters. When Rene’s landlord sold the cottage she’d rented for over a decade, she had just 60 days to find affordable housing on an island where rental prices have skyrocketed beyond her modest income.

“I asked everyone I knew. There was just nothing available that I could afford,” Rene recalls. The stress affected her health and ability to focus at work. The thought of leaving her community felt devastating.

That’s when Rene reached out to the Resource Center. While the organization can’t create housing, they stood ready with emergency rental assistance to help cover move-in costs. Three weeks before her move-out date, a retired couple with a vacant mother-in-law unit heard about Rene’s situation. Within days, she had found her new home. Rene’s story had a happy ending, but dozens of islanders are facing similar crises right now. Addressing this crisis requires both more housing options AND financial support to help people through transitions.

Community members can help by creating rental spaces—a basement apartment, vacant ADU, guest cottage, or extra rooms. By offering housing, you’re helping keep families together and allowing essential workers to stay in our community.

Support the Resource Center’s Emergency Rental Assistance during the upcoming GiveOrcas Holiday Campaign, December 2-11, at giveorcas.org. Whether covering a deposit or managing an unexpected expense between paychecks, these funds help islanders stay housed while they navigate their housing challenges. Your gift helps ensure our neighbors can continue to call Orcas home.