#################################################### 

The Spokesman-Review

BILL WOULD MAKE ‘MIDDLE HOUSING’ EASIER TO CONSTRUCT

Housing starts fall to cap first annual decline since 2009

KHQ

Camp Hope shrinks amid efforts to address homelessness in Spokane

KXLY

'Are we safe as a congregation?': Crime pushes Spokane Redemption out of downtown

#################################################### 

The Spokesman-Review

BILL WOULD MAKE ‘MIDDLE HOUSING’ EASIER TO CONSTRUCT

Legislation would allow up to fourplex on all residential lots

OLYMPIA – Single-family homes may soon be less common in new development across the state.

 A bill making its way through the Legislature would allow “middle housing” – up to a fourplex – on all residential lots in cities of 6,000 or more.

The proposal is making its second appearance in the Legislature, this time with more cities covered and with bipartisan support.

It comes at a time when the Legislature is looking to address the housing and homelessness crisis in a number of different ways, including with zoning, renter protections and affordable housing availability.

“We need to make it easier to build homes of all shapes and sizes, so that everyone in Washington has access to a decent and affordable home,” said Rep. Jessica Bateman, D-Olympia.

A number of cities across the state, including Spokane, have already changed their zoning laws to allow for more density in urban areas, but this bill would require all cities with 6,000 or more people do away with single-family zoning, though property owners could still build single-family homes on their lots.

All residential lots in those cities would be required to allow up to fourplexes. Additionally, the bill would require cities to allow sixplexes on all lots, if at least two of the units are affordable, or if the lot is within a half-mile of a major transit stop.

The proposal has received support from a number of lawmakers and housing organizations, but some criticism from cities that say they want to decide their own zoning laws.

“If we don’t do something this session to address housing, it’s a failure,” said Republican co-sponsor Rep. Andrew Barkis, of Olympia.

Finding the right balance for state’s ‘changing needs’

Washington has not built enough housing to keep up with population and job growth, Bateman said, and restricting the kind of housing that can be built to single-family homes prevents the state from meeting the demand.

“This bill is recognizing that we have to change how we allow housing to be built, to accommodate and to adapt to our changing needs,” Bateman said.

Last summer, the Spokane City Council unanimously approved a temporary zoning ordinance to allow duplexes, triplexes, quadplexes and townhomes in all residential zones citywide for one year.

Councilmember Zack Zappone told the House Housing committee on Tuesday that 149 units are in pre-development and five have been permitted. He said middle housing needs to be legal across the state.

“Spokane can’t do this alone,” he said. “It doesn’t meet the scale of the problem.”

The Association of Washington Cities, who in the past had been against expanding middle housing, testified in a House Housing committee hearing this week as “other.”

Carl Schroeder, representing the group, said they are prepared this year to support expanding some middle housing zoning, but that this bill wasn’t ready yet.

He said they support increasing middle housing on lots located near specific community amenities, such as schools or transits. Schroeder also had concerns about provisions that lowered some parking requirements 

Spokane Valley councilman Arne Woodard testified to the House Housing committee that a number of cities, including Spokane Valley, have improved their zoning laws and follow similar requirements to those in the bill. 

Woodard testified as “other” on the bill, saying the Valley already allows some middle housing on lots.

The bill does allow for cities to keep their current permitting requirements if they are “substantially” similar to those in the bill, but Woodard said “substantially” could be interpreted in many ways.

He asked that it be further defined to allow certainty about which jurisdictions are covered.

 “We have to be smarter about using existing resources to reduce housing costs to make living in Washington state affordable,” he said.

Similar to Woodard, Fourth District lawmakers had concerns about creating a statewide zoning regulation. 

Sen. Mike Padden, R-Spokane Valley, said zoning decisions should be made locally, and he is strongly opposed to a statewide solution.

Rep. Leonard Christian, R-Spokane Valley, said the Valley has already made a number of changes to its zoning laws, and that the state should respect local authorities to make these decisions.

Barkis said under this proposal, he still believes there will be enough control and ability for cities to decide how they want a neighborhood to look.

He said he believes there should be local control, but there should also be consistency among some policies statewide 

Bateman said the state doesn’t have time for a local approach, and that housing needs to be addressed on a coordinated, statewide level.

“We’ve tried local control at the city level for housing for decades, and it’s gotten us here,” Bateman said.

Leaders in both parties have indicated their support for the bill, though they have acknowledged there is still work to be done.

Middle housing a ‘midterm solution’ to crisis

Along with Spokane, a number of cities and states have passed similar changes, but it’s still too early to see the full effects, as building housing takes time. 

The city of Olympia began allowing middle housing on all lots in 2020. The state of Oregon legalized middle housing in 2019. Portland passed a similar bill in 2020 but had been working on it since 2015.

When middle housing is expanded, it often takes two to three years before any change is seen, Bateman said. This is a “midterm solution.”

“If the majority of cities in the state have made it illegal to build middle housing, it is reasonable to assume you’re not going to see a change overnight once they become legal,” Bateman said. 

Permitting, regulations and environmental reviews also all make it difficult to build, Barkis said. 

The premise of many of the supply-side housing bills is to reduce barriers and the time it takes to build. 

Bateman said the state will help by producing template designs for builders and ensuring that cities process permits in a timely manner.

The Legislature is looking at a number of other proposals this session to address the housing crisis in the short term and long term 

Bateman said she looks at addressing housing in three buckets: supply, stability and subsidy.

Middle housing and expanding where accessory dwelling units can be built fit into the supply side.

On the stability side, legislators are looking at rent or utility assistance, protecting renters from huge rent increases, requiring landlords to give 180 days before a large rent increase and giving renters the option to challenge rent increases.

The Legislature is also looking at ways to increase investment into affordable subsidized housing. 

In his proposed budget, Gov. Jay Inslee has requested a referendum to allow the state to increase its debt limit to $4 billion to build more affordable housing faster.

Other ideas to address the housing crisis this year include making it easier for first-time homebuyers to afford a home, revising state guidelines for cities’ population growth and changing rules around condominiums.

Laurel Demkovich can be reached at (509) 416-6260 or at laureld@spokesman.com.

Housing starts fall to cap first annual decline since 2009

High interest, building costs hurt market

New U.S. home construction declined for a fourth-straight month in December, wrapping up a disappointing year for an industry that saw annual housing starts fall for the first time since 2009.

Residential starts decreased 1.4% last month to a 1.38 million annualized rate, a five-month low, according to government data released Thursday. New construction fell 3% in 2022 after surging the prior year. The December drop was due to a slump in multifamily projects.

Single-family home building jumped to a 909,000 annualized rate last month, the most since August. However, for all of last year about 1 million one-family houses were started, down 10.6% from 2021 – the biggest drop since 2009 

The median estimates in a Bloomberg survey of economists called for a 1.36 million pace of total residential starts in December.

Applications to build, a proxy for future construction, fell 1.6% to an annualized 1.33 million units in December, the fewest since May 2020. Permits for construction of one-family homes dropped 6.5% last month, also the lowest since the early months of the pandemic.

The housing market rapidly deteriorated last year in the wake of the Federal Reserve’s most aggressive interest-rate hiking campaign since the 1980s. That sent mortgage rates soaring and sidelined many prospective buyers, prompting many builders to offer incentives in hopes of bolstering demand.

While homebuilder sentiment unexpectedly rose in January, the improvement followed declines in every month last year.

That report on Wednesday also pointed to builders still contending with high construction costs and challenging affordability conditions.

Multifamily starts, which are volatile from month to month, slid 19% in December, while permits for new construction rose.

Total new construction decreased in 3 of 4 U.S. regions.

The number of homes completed dropped 8.4% to an annualized 1.41 million.

Existing-home sales for December and the full year will be released on Friday, followed by new-home sales data next week.

Weakness in the housing industry is spilling over into other areas of the economy as well. The government’s retail sales report on Wednesday showed purchases at furniture and home furnishing outlets dropped 2.5% in December, the most since the end of 2021.

Sales at electronics and appliances merchants fell 5.6% from a year earlier, by far the weakest category.

#################################################### 

KHQ

Camp Hope shrinks amid efforts to address homelessness in Spokane

SPOKANE, Wash. - The latest population count released Thursday from the Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) showed 138 people are currently living at Camp Hope, the homeless encampment located on WSDOT property north of Interstate 90 in East Central Spokane.

The count was taken during the day, so WSDOT says some residents may have been off-site working or receiving treatment and that number might fluctuate a bit.

Still, the population being around 140 people marks a significant decrease from the last count in mid-December that showed about 200 people living at the encampment.

"Estimates were upwards of 600 at one point, and the first initial count with service providers was 467," WSDOT Spokesperson Ryan Overton said Thursday. "So that's a significant amount of progress, really even since September. It's really encouraging."

Overton said the Catholic Charities Catalyst Project has played a big role in the decrease, taking about 50 people from Camp Hope so far.

Plus, more people have used the region's existing shelter system, which Overton called "encouraging."

"All of that contributing, reconnecting with family members, is all contributing to that number slowly starting to drop," Overton said.

People aren't the only thing moving out of Camp Hope either–Overton said WSDOT crews have removed more than 48,000 pounds of debris out of the encampment over the last several weeks.

"Visually it is shrinking. I think that's really encouraging for us, and I'm sure for the public as well," Overton said. "Closing the encampment has been our ultimate goal all along, and we're starting to see the light at the end of that."

"If everybody agrees that's the common goal, we need to, number one, build enough trust and have enough honest conversations that we can work together to deliver that to the citizens of Spokane County, and that has been absent for the last four months, frankly," Spokane County Sheriff John Nowels said in an interview Thursday.

Sheriff Nowels said that specific approach that he's taken since taking over the department this year has included a Zoom conversation with Washington Governor Jay Inslee about long-term solutions, like improving access to mental health and substance abuse treatment in Spokane County and statewide.

"And how we are going to have to come up with solutions over the next two to four years while we're building that infrastructure, where we can make sure we have temporary shelter for these people," Nowels added.

Sheriff Nowels acknowledged he and the governor won't agree politically on a lot of things, "but we can have open and honest dialogue about it, not get accusatory and I think that's the way forward. That's how you get to places where you have solutions."

Overton described recent conversations between state agencies and local officials with the City of Spokane and Spokane County have gone well.

"I think they've seen the decrease in size, we continue to have weekly meetings with them," Overton said. "[There's been] a lot of encouraging things with the city, the county, the sheriff's office–all things pointing in the right direction."

Overton said they still don't have a timeline or a firm date for when the encampment will close yet and added that will likely start to materialize "when more housing starts to become available.”

#################################################### 

KXLY

'Are we safe as a congregation?': Crime pushes Spokane Redemption out of downtown

January 19, 2023 6:29 PM

Updated: January 19, 2023 7:23 PM

SPOKANE, Wash. — For many people, a church can be a safe haven to put the difficult things happening in the world aside. For one local landmark, that safe haven is starting to crumble.

“For sale” signs are up at Redemption Spokane, and the congregation is now looking for a new place to call home.

The church is situated at the corner of 2nd and Division. It’s busy at all hours of the day and night. Straight across the street is the vacant building that at one point, not too long ago, was a Starbucks, serving customers hand over fist. They closed their doors too.

That iconic building has cornerstones from the late-1800s, and at one point in time, it was a Swedish tabernacle.

The pastor tells us this decision did not come easy. It’s something the church had been considering for some time, but after a series of unnerving events, a decision was made. The safety of the congregation was paramount.

When Redemption first chose this spot, the livelihood of that Starbucks straight across the street served as a gauge as to what this community spot would look like. They described it as “vibrant.” Business meetings happened outdoors under umbrellas, students stayed for long stints of studying, and families stopped in to get drinks and snacks.

“As the years progressed, we saw criminal activity that started getting worse and worse,” explained Pastor Jonathan Bonetti.

Members of the church remember the need surrounding them as well, and they were ready to “love thy neighbor.” Since that point, about 8-years-ago, there’s been a big shift in criminal activity, getting worse, and worse.

Windows have been broken in, and they’ve dealt with vandalism, theft, a nearby murder, and ultimately, gunshots across the street in the middle of a service. This was a tipping point.

“After those two events, we really started looking seriously at what our future here looks like,” Bonetti said.

At the end of 2022, the church’s insurance provider dropped coverage because this location was too much of a liability.

“You want to be able to come into a community where you have the energy to pour into people who are in need- and to the homeless community that we have around us. I think we’ve been stretched so thin with trying to clean up around the building, trying to mitigate the vandalism that we’ve had around here that many times, it’s more of an exhaustive thing coming in to work here,” added Bonetti.

Now, another page is being turned in the history book of that iconic building.

Redemption is on the hunt for a new spot, and the pastor hopes to stay within a few miles of this current location. In the meantime, services will continue inside that building.

Spokane Police Department and City Administration tell us they’ve prioritized the area and it has been a constant focus for the Downtown officers, working with businesses and community members to find solutions and make it a safer area for everyone.

A spokesperson for SPD added, “We are saddened to hear of the pending move of Redemption Church as City Administration and SPD both seek a vibrant, thriving Downtown area where all community members feel safe.”

Meanwhile, Downtown officers have designated that area about the 7-11 on Division, just across from Redemption Church as their mission during the past two weeks.