2/23/2023
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The Spokesman-Review
KREM
KXLY
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The Spokesman-Review
Rates increasing as much as 55%
Mobile home residents in and around Moscow are searching for solutions as they face dramatic rent increases they fear could leave them homeless.
The Latah County commissioners met Tuesday with several residents who are living in mobile home communities recently purchased by Hurst & Son LLC, a privately owned investment, property management and construction company. It purchased Abiel Community, Appaloosa Community, Palouse Hills Community and Woodland Heights Community from Gary Lester.
University of Idaho sociology professor Leontina Hormel said residents are facing rent increases from 40% to 55% under the new ownership. Suzy James, a six-year resident of Woodland Heights, said her monthly lot rent will increase from $340 to $525. Breanna Sipley, a four-year-resident of Abiel, said her rent is being raised from $375 to around $550.
Several parents at the meeting, including six-year Appaloosa resident Crystal Henington, said they are worried about finding a place to continue raising their children. Henington said residents chose to live in Appaloosa so they can support their families.
“And these kinds of things are putting hindrances on it that scare me as a mother, to make me wonder about the choice that I’ve made to put my son in a solid place that I know I can afford,” she said.
It may not be “high society,” she said, but it is safe and that is what they bought into.
“So, how can we protect ourselves?” Henington said.
Appaloosa also faces important infrastructure issues as it is waiting for its sewage to be connected to the Moscow municipal system.
Hormel said the lease is about 20 pages long. Residents at Tuesday’s meeting, including Sipley, called the addition of numerous new rules in the lease as “predatory.”
Hormel is working with the UI to conduct a needs assessment survey of all the affected residents to figure out how many cannot afford their rent and how many are planning to move.
She advised residents to contact the UI’s legal aid clinic for legal advice, and Sojourners’ Alliance for information on where they can live if they are on the verge of homelessness. Hormel said UI legal aid interns are currently interviewing residents.
James suggested they also call Intermountain Fair Housing Council, a nonprofit based in Boise that advocates for fair housing practices.
Victoria O’Banion of ROC Northwest also attended Tuesday’s meeting to speak to the residents about the concept of resident-owned communities.
She said ROC Northwest works with manufactured housing residents to form a cooperative to purchase their community from its current owner and manage it themselves.
O’Banion said each resident can buy into this cooperative with a $100-$200 lifetime fee. The cooperative takes on a mortgage, adopts bylaws, hires a property manager and creates a board of directors. It can receive direct financing from the nonprofit bank ROC USA Capital.
She said these types of communities typically see smaller increases in their lot rent compared to investor-owned communities.
In the meantime, O’Banion suggested residents of these four local communities come together and potentially hold a meeting under one roof to talk about their options.
“Let’s organize and go from there,” she said.
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KREM
Despite the name, a lot can go into a tiny home.
Author: Janelle Finch
Published: 6:33 PM PST February 22, 2023
Updated: 6:33 PM PST February 22, 2023
SPOKANE, Wash. — Spokane is no stranger to the struggles of homelessness. Some local non-profits say solving a big problem could take a "small" solution.
"We have a housing crisis in Spokane," Smith-Barbieri Foundation Executive Director Lerria Schuh said. "We need to do some innovative things to lower our houseless population and a tiny home village has been really successful and communities around the country. and it's time that we look at doing it here."
Schuh and other non-profit leads traveled to Seattle to learn more about tiny homes and even built one themselves.
"It felt really, really good to see that and to know that somebody is going to sleep in the tiny home that we built and they're going to rejuvenate their lives," Schuh said.
Schuh says the western Washington homeless solution also has potential on the eastern side of the state.
She believes it's a real stepping stone to getting people off the streets and into housing.
"If houseless folks move into a tiny home village, the average stay in Seattle is 114 days before they get housed somewhere else," Schuh said. "So, it's really a type of transition. It's not meant to be permanent."
Sound Foundations Northwest is a Seattle non-profit that has helped design hundreds of tiny homes. The director of operations says their design costs a little over $4,000 per unit.
According to the Low Income Housing Institute, under Seattle City Code, tiny homes need to be under 120 square feet. So, most designs are just eight by twelve feet.
Despite the name, a lot can go into a tiny home.
"An overhead light, an electrical outlet, and in the wintertime, they're given a space heater," Schuh said. "And in the summer times, a fan with two windows for good air circulation. Each unit has a bed and typically some sort of a storage structure."
Schuh says the group has a few more details to work out before bringing the idea to the city.
"We know that services are really important and we need to make sure that service providers have the capacity to help to be on site, you know, and things like where they could be located and all of that," Schuh said. "So, we haven't talked to the city yet, but we we believe very strongly that this is something that should happen here."
But, they're hopeful they can bring tiny homes to eastern Washington.
"We're going to be sitting down and talking about what the feasibility is where there might be land, who might be able to be involved to help fund and operate a tiny home village and go from there," Schuh said.
The low income housing institute operates 19 tiny home villages in western Washington. According to the organization, 65% of people stay less than six months in a tiny home before moving on to permanent housing.
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KXLY
SPOKANE, Wash. -- Nearly one year ago, a bold plan was unveiled by Spokane Mayor Nadine Woodward and Catholic Charities; to relocate the House of Charity shelter out of downtown.
"We're excited to announce that the city has formalized a partnership with Catholic Charities to pursue a new permanent shelter campus that would relocate the house of charity out of downtown," Mayor Woodward announced during her 2022 State of the City Address, a goal that was met with fierce applause.
This major announcement came as a huge relief for business owners nearby who struggled with the homeless population on a daily basis.
Catholic Charities CEO Rob McCann stood alongside Woodward saying they had locations in mind, ready to go.
Despite being pressed by media, he never revealed where those locations would be.
But 10 months later, the House of Charity shelter remains firmly in place, with no plans of relocating any time soon.
"We looked at a number of locations outside of downtown and that just didn't work," Woodward said when asked about the status of the project. "I'll just tell you; locating a shelter is probably the most difficult work that you can do."
The first step of identifying a three acre location that can house up to 150 people remains the biggest hurdle for both the city and Catholic Charities, particularly with neighborhoods vocalizing their opposition to that shelter relocating near their homes.
"That includes a site that has the correct amenities that surround it, a site that's the right size, a site that has great transportation access for the people that might be accessing that location," said Kelly Keenan of Catholic Charities.
When asked if they were close to zeroing in on any locations that fit that description, Keenan said they're keeping all options open.
As the city waits for a location to emerge, the intersect of public safety and homelessness has been a challenge for businesses downtown.
"What we hear from businesses is while they are working in earnest to make a comeback and put the pandemic in the rearview mirror, there are concerns about what is happening on the streets," said Emilie Cameron, president of the Downtown Spokane Partnership. "Public safety continues to be a top element, top of mind concern.”
The city has begun to address those concerns as they continue to search for an alternative shelter location. Mayor Woodward says they've doubled the amount of officers working at the downtown police precinct.
Mayor Woodward plans to emphasize their mission of public safety and a clearer path forward to combatting homelessness during her 2023 State of the City Address.