Eric Kliewer, who rents half of a house on East Jefferson Street, explains how he gets the most use out of the cozy space, which includes a loft. The building is listed at $264,000.

CANNON BEACH — When Debbie Morrow hears the words “affordable housing,” “the first place that does not come to mind is Cannon Beach,” said Morrow, executive director of the Oregon Association of Realtors.

In fact, when she was initially asked to interview for a story about Cannon Beach’s affordable housing — that is, housing a family could afford to purchase on the area median income of about $55,500 — she thought it may have been a prank call. The reason: Cannon Beach pretty much has no affordable housing.

Sheri Russell, branch manager of Columbia Bank and a member of the city’s newly appointed affordable housing task force, said that houses listed between $150,000 and $200,000 fall within a reasonable definition of “affordable.” But not one house in that price range is was listed for sale in Cannon Beach.

In the period since Jan. 1, 2012, the median home price in Cannon Beach has hovered at $547,000.

• The average list price was $875,000;

• The high list price was $3.2 million;

• The average sold price was $565,800; and

• The high sold price was $3.75 million, according to figures Morrow provided.

This is not a new trend, said Robin Risley, a real estate agent with Kamali Sotheby’s International Realty in Cannon Beach and Gearhart. “It’s always been a problem just because Cannon Beach’s price point is higher than most other cities around.”

The city’s natural touch points — the parks, the scenic views (particularly of Haystack Rock), the forest reserves to the east and the oceanfront land to the west — all contribute to high property values, Morrow said.

Cannon Beach historically has been “branded as a destination, as a resort-type community,” she said. “‘God’s playground,’ if you will.”

But the city’s culture is in danger of adopting a “drawbridge mentality,” she said: “‘Now that I have mine, I don’t want anyone else to have theirs.’”

A six-member city task force, composed of locals with different areas of expertise, will begin meeting in January and spend the next nine to 12 months developing recommendations for the City Council to address the problem.

This “think tank” is “the first step” toward making Cannon Beach more inclusive, Morrow said. The city’s residents “can’t be only seniors who can afford $3 million homes.”

So what are the most “affordable” homes in Cannon Beach right now?

In the second week of December, the cheapest house for sale was a one-story, 832-square-foot two-bedroom, two-bathroom house built in 1977 at 248 Elliott Way. Its listing price was $249,900.

The property is a short walking distance from town, which is often a selling point, Risley said. But it’s also about 2 1/2 blocks from U.S. Highway 101, so noise pollution may turn off a prospective buyer.

The roof is in good shape, but the gutter needs to be cleaned. Painted Looney Tunes characters adorn the walls of a bedroom (which, to some minds, may an asset). The garage cannot fit a regular-sized car and would probably make more sense as a workshop, she said.

“I think (the house is) pretty well priced,” she said. “I don’t see a lot of work that needs to be done to it right away.”

The second cheapest was a cabin-style duplex at 136 and 138 E. Jefferson St., built in 1946 and selling for $264,000. Each 522-square-foot dwelling boasts one bedroom, one bathroom, a loft area and a front deck. Whoever buys the property could live in one side and rent out the other to help pay for the investment.

The home, cozy as it is, would probably not work for a couple with one or more children, but it might work for a single parent, Risley said. Though the loft could use a guardrail and the lack of privacy might be a problem, the cabin is a short walk from the beach — something the current renter, Eric Kliewer, and his son make the most of, he said.

“It would take the right person” to live there, one who “could be flexible,” Risley said.

The third one down the list was a three-bedroom, three-bathroom, one-story house at 3648 W. Chinook Ave., in the Haystack Heights neighborhood, east of Highway 101, priced at $285,000.

The 1,582-square foot home, built in 1975, has a double garage, freshly painted white walls and new laminate hardwood flooring. The neighbors in Haystack Heights tend to be permanent residents rather than vacationers. And, with a partial view of the ocean and (on a clear day) the Tillamook Rock Lighthouse, it is “remarkable” that the home is listed under $300,000, said Tommy Huntington, another real estate agent with Kamali Sotheby’s.

But do any of these three places really qualify as “affordable housing”?

“Not really. That’s the best we have in Cannon Beach right now,” Risley said. “In this price range, there just isn’t much to choose from.”

If the city wants to create more affordable housing, there are only so many tools it can work with, Cannon Beach City Manager Brant Kucera said.

One is to zone more densely to allow more multifamily housing units to be built per acre of land. “That’s one of the main ways of doing it,” he said. However, “that’s not this community at all. This community is very much single-family homes.”

More housing units could also clash with Cannon Beach’s design tastes.

“There’s no desire to see high-rises,” he said. “The reason this town is really attractive to visitors is because of the way it looks, and if you start messing with the aesthetic, you might not have people visiting anymore at some point.”

Yet another obstacle is that there’s little inexpensive land to build on, and “the closer you are to the ocean, the more expensive it is,” Risley said.

Finally, “we’re very limited by our geography,” Kucera said. “We’re essentially built out at this point. There’s nothing to build on. And expanding the urban growth boundary is not necessarily a viable option because the terrain doesn’t allow you to build any more.”

So, unlike communities with fewer restrictions, there are no quick fixes to Cannon Beach’s housing problem.

“We have to find alternatives,” he said.