Starter homes and La Conner’s future

There is a cadre of La Conner and area residents caring and committed enough to the town’s future that they show up at Thursday evening workshops addressing “Growing Pains” and Zoom in, participating in public hearings on a conditional use permit application for a 20 unit condominium building on Center Street. Like most of us, they are concerned about a future La Conner that will be unaffordable to their children or the teachers of their grandchildren. This quaint tourist town may slowly turn into a retirement village and second homes stopover.

La Conner’s government, led by councilmembers MaryLee Chamberlain and Rick Dole, and supported by planning commissioner Marna Hanneman, town staff and volunteer residents, made a start with the March 31 forum to engage residents in a critical issue and to communicate that it is paying attention to its citizens’ interests. Residents must continue to increase their participation in order to have an impact on government decisions.

Significantly increasing housing stock, especially starter homes and apartments in quantity, is one of the most complex 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. No government at any level in this country, from local to national, is willing to make the long term investment in a rational housing planning and build-out program based on population, incomes and geography. That leaves it to local citizens to do the heavy lifting of not only influencing but visioning and developing housing policy that meets their needs and those of their families and communities.

Consider that when Channel Cove was developed as South Park 25 years ago, it added about 25 subsidized housing units in town. Gary Nelson, on the board of directors of Habitat for Humanity, said last week the organization’s goal is to increase fourfold, from four to 15, the number of houses it builds a year. Both the pace and production of starter homes is agonizingly slow and small.

The Town of La Conner’s annual budget is less than $5 million. If Landed Gentry sells the 10 homes in its Maple Field development at $600,000 each, its $6 million gross exceeds the town budget. The point: local resources are miniscule versus the size and cost of the need. And the town’s line item for housing development? Zero.

We are all capitalists. Who will sell their homes at below market prices to assist young families wanting to get started in La Conner? Very few of us. Those sales would be gifts, and rare.

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 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.

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