Buying into affordable housing

Here we go again. Whatever the merits of Greg Ellis’ proposal to build six or so houses on the Washington Street lot behind Pioneer Market, he provides the opportunity for town and Skagit Valley residents to again wrestle with the complexity of gaining affordable housing in La Conner and throughout the county.

At his permit hearing Sept. 21, Ellis shared his pitch to offer “affordable housing, in the high 500s.” That is pricing affordable only to folks downsizing from Seattle or San Francisco. Ellis is offering the wish, like Dorothy clicking her ruby slippers together in her attempt to get home in “The Wizard of Oz,” as if a fervent hope will make it so. It will not. Putting the word affordable in front of the word housing – or placing it before a price, like $500,000 – will not make it so. The town’s government, elected officials and staff, have the same habit and make the same mistake.

Better that the town council outlaw the term or create a penalty if it is used inside town buildings or at meetings. We are too civilized to put folks in stocks or to flog them, but some punishment is warranted.

Better that council define the term “affordable housing” in the municipal code or policy. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development sets income limits that determine eligibility for assisted housing programs at between 30% and 80% of an area’s median income. To buy a Skagit Home Trust home, you must meet specific income guidelines.

After outlawing that term, the town council will help low income housing advocates by putting in the comprehensive plan the terms “first time home buyers” and “starter homes.” Then, when developers share their plans for housing, our government can ask, “are you building starter homes for first time home buyers?” That means younger people with jobs as teachers, para-educators, fire fighters, law enforcement and, yes, grocery clerks.

The first need in developing affordable housing is to embrace the complexity of the issue while believing the mantra that it is one of the most significant and intractable issues our society faces locally, statewide and nationally.

It will take decades of year-in-and-year-out effort to move any community into the position of having a reasonable supply of starter homes housing stock.

Communities, led by visionary elected officials, will commit to long term planning, knowing the four pillars to gain first time home buyers starts with planning. The second pillar is funding. Face the reality that getting lower income people into local housing requires financial subsidies. Third, specific, detailed regulations provide a blueprint for staff, housing advocates and developers so everyone knows the targets to achieve and the rules for getting there. And fourth, control of property is the only way that starter homes stay in a price range that first time buyers can purchase generation after generation.

This is absolutely true, and more so in western Washington: housing that developers and real estate brokers sell at market rates will not be “affordable,” if not never, then in our lifetimes.

There is no place like home. Getting first time home buyers into starter homes right now is a dream realized somewhere over the rainbow.