6/5/2022
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The Spokesman-Review
Rallying for revolutionary housing changes
HOUSING PRIORITIES AND STRATEGIES
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KHQ
The Center Square
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The Spokesman-Review
Rallying for revolutionary housing changes
By Amber D. Dodd
COMMUNITY JOURNALISM FUND
Nazeerah Muhammad works tirelessly to make the $1,025 rent payment for her one-bedroom apartment in Browne’s Addition.
She is among the Spokane renters who have little access to financial safety nets such as bank loans or generational wealth. The American Community Survey found 58% of renters in Spokane are people of color. Muhammad, a Black woman, has been a resident here since 2016.
Muhammad tried to make it work by waiting tables at Shari’s on Division, a few stints with call centers and a job at Kaiser Permanente Health Insurance. She blew through her savings, and it still wasn’t enough.
In March, however, Muhammad found help: the Carl Maxey Center’s Emergency Rental Assistance Program. The program is the first of its kind in Spokane, centering Black residents, a racial group that commonly experiences housing discrimination.
“This has literally freed me up to find a job, but still be able to pay my bills through having this assistance,” Muhammad said. “And I’m also able to focus on the things that I kind of neglected in order for me to be able to have a future. I cry sometimes because it’s such a relief.” According to the Tenants Union of Washington state, Spokane is at a dangerously low 0.5% for housing availability, and the cost of homeownership has risen nearly 90% in the past four years.
The Maxey Center’s rental assistance program is just one of many solutions offered to ease the housing crisis. Spokane mirrors national trends of inadequate housing stock, tense tenant-landlord relationships and uncertainty about Gen Z’s chances of being homeowners. The chances of owning a house wane as Gen Zers attempt to balance steep financial obligations such as student loan payments and inflation that is at its highest since the 1980s.
Housing advocacy groups, along with the Spokane City Council, have discussed the dangers of Spokane’s housing crisis. Marley Hochendoner, the executive director of the Northwest Housing Alliance, cites racial discrimination as a primary concern in the housing crisis.
“They are bearing the brunt of a lot of the unfairness and less access to housing,” Hochendoner said. “That’s BIPOC people, people with disabilities, low fixed income people, so there’s a lot of crossover. When we have something that affects everybody, not enough housing, the people that often bear the biggest brunt are people who have already experienced racism, discrimination throughout history and their lifetimes and have so many other barriers in the way.”
Discrimination in housing against people of color has deep roots in the U.S. The Fair Housing Act of 1968 prohibited housing discrimination but did not eliminate barriers to fair housing for those affected by redlining, racial covenants, steering, or other discriminatory practices, lowering opportunities for future Black and Latinx homeowners.
“Even (our) zoning codes is something that’s perpetuating discrimination or segregation by not allowing certain structures to be built now,” Hochendoner said. “The city is looking to make some amendments to the residential codes to allow accessory dwelling units and more duplexes, but that’s an example of policies that we can really look at and examine for racial inequities, and how (policies) perpetuate past discrimination that’s a result of restrictive covenants, segregation and real estate agents steering.”
Northwest Housing Alliance participated in the city of Spokane’s Impediments to Fair Housing study in 2019 to understand the racial and economic aspects of the housing crisis.
“In Spokane, for example, the homeownership rate for white people is approximately 63%, and it’s in the 40s for BIPOC communities,” Hochendoner said, adding that the rising rents are more likely to burden people of color who are primarily renters.
A 210-page Housing Action Plan, approved by the City Council last year, assessed the issues contributing to Spokane’s housing crisis. City Council President Breean Beggs and Councilwoman Lori Kinnear spearheaded the project. The final plan was passed in November .
“I’m sure many people are like, ‘You passed this in July, why wasn’t it done by the end of the year?’ ” Beggs said. “If you’re making any significant changes to land use and development rules in the comprehensive plan, there’s a very elaborate public process we have to go through.”
During virtual seminars, the City Council met with organizations such as the Northwest Fair Housing Alliance, the Tenants Union of Washington and local leaders of organizations, such as the NAACP.
The meetings clarified short- and long-term goals to address housing issues, such as universal background checks to lower the cost of rental applications and dismantling barriers to building duplexes and other diverse housing types in single- family zoned areas.
Along with efforts to build equitable housing, organizations are looking to assist struggling renters. Duaa-Rahemaah Williams is a statewide organizer for the Resident Action Project (RAP), a network which teaches leadership skills, storytelling, advocacy and other tactics to those directly impacted by housing and homelessness issues in order to change state policy.
Williams is aiming to create change that centers the experiences of those effected by housing insecurity. The overall goal, she said, is to implement policies and laws. Since RAP is a statewide organization, however, advocating for housing can look different for communities throughout the state.
Williams also collaborates with local organizations like the Northwest Fair Housing Alliance.
“We give them the skills and training to become leaders in the community,” Williams said. “So, we’re all about making changes through storytelling, being on panels, telling our stories, organizing and doing voter civic engagement. Our whole thing is ... to make changes on the statewide level.”
The Resident Action Project plans to host a two-day housing summit in June,which will focus on housing injustices experienced by BIPOC renters, people with disabilities, refugees and the LGBTQ+ community.
“Those who are part of the community know their stories better than you do,” Williams said. “They have the experience because they lived it.”
Through her work, Williams has found overwhelming racial disparities in Spokane’s housing crisis.
“The people who have housing injustices are people who are Black, Indigenous, people of color, people who identify as LGBTQ+, people with disabilities, people who are refugees, people whose second language is English,” Williams said. “I make sure that those who are part of RAP, who get information and training in different things, are part of those communities.”
Michelle Pappas is one of the RAP representatives that Williams trained on personal testimony. Pappas, who identifies as biracial and Mexican, has experienced housing issues since childhood.
With the help of RAP, and donations, Pappas secured her first home. Pappas advocates for housing equity, including the decriminalization of those experiencing homelessness. Now, in her role as a program manager for Future Wise, a Spokane nonprofit that advocates for “healthy, equitable and opportunity-rich communities,” Pappas encourages BIPOC youth to organize testimonies about their housing experiences.
“Storytelling in community organizing is not just about teaching people how to tell their stories, but also to remind people that their lived experience is so important and valid,” Pappas said. “I hear a lot of ‘I’m only 17, and I don’t have experience.’ You have 17 years of lived experience, that’s longer than I’ve been at my job.”
To acknowledge April as Fair Housing Month, the YWCA Spokane hosted a panel discussion about racial justice and housing with Terri Anderson, the executive director of Spokane’s chapter of the tenants union and Stephanie Courtney, the founder of the Learning Project.
Anderson discussed the importance of securing housing in order to participate in democratic practices like mail-in ballots and to have access to other important resources. She echoed Hochendoner’s sentiments about the racial disparities that are fueling the crisis.
“Spokane’s Regional Health District did a health study where they did neighborhood by neighborhood the life expectancy,” Anderson said. “You can literally see a 20-year life span difference in the neighborhoods that had white only covenants and the redlined neighborhoods, so we feel it in our lives.”
One of the first physical housing solutions to be attempted in Spokane is the Haystack Heights Co-housing project, located in the South Perry neighborhood, “Our co-housing is an intergenerational project,” said project co-founder Mariah McKay. “We think we have the best of both worlds here at Haystack, where there’s a 7-minute bike ride to downtown Spokane and an urban green space we’re able to preserve.”
Co-housing is a community of private homes clustered around a shared space.
According to Shaping Spokane, the 2017 update to the city’s comprehensive plan, Spokane’s population is projected to jump to 234,306 people by 2037. More than 7,000 affordable housing units must be added to the area’s housing landscape to address the future need.
While housing advocacy groups promote solutions through rent relief funds, tenant unions and citywide discussions, many fixes are temporary.
Hochendoner hopes the city is looking to implement more of the solutions found during the Housing Action Plan process.
“We must prioritize ... the access to housing programs to people who have experienced discrimination,” Hochendoner said. “That’s one of the things I saw in the city’s implementation plan. Housing programs should be a priority for current or former residents of formerly redlined areas.” Amber D. Dodd, who can be reached at amberd@spokesman.com, is the Carl Maxey Racial and Social Inequity reporter for Eastern Washington and North Idaho. Her reporting appears in both The Spokesman-Review and The Black Lens newspaper.
HOUSING PRIORITIES AND STRATEGIES
From Spokane Housing Action Plan for 2021, a resolution passed by the City Council to provide guidance to encourage additional affordable construction and market-rate housing options.
Housing Action Plan priorities:
A. Increase housing supply, options, and affordability for all incomes.
B. Preserve existing housing affordability and quality to help people thrive where they live.
C. Enhance equitable access to housing and homeownership.
When considering strategies that the City can take to address housing needs and affordability challenges, it is important to understand and consider the historic context and intentional policy and zoning decisions that have contributed to patterns of inequity present in Spokane. Looking at policies and programs through a racial equity lens can provide policymakers and staff with insights needed to develop targeted solutions and ensure more equitable outcomes. The City should also continue to expand the displacement risk assessment to deepen understanding of the causes of displacement, monitor changes in displacement risk over time, and identify solutions to mitigate displacement during redevelopment. Proactively engaging with neighborhoods and communities in areas with high displacement risk before land use and zoning changes are enacted can help the City consider the most relevant and effective strategies for minimizing and mitigating displacement. This priority encourages the City to consider actions that work to break down structural barriers and ensure they do not serve as impediments to accessing housing opportunities or moving into homeownership if desired, including those in the private housing market. Draft strategies: C1. Reduce barriers and expand access to housing and homeownership for lower income households, first-time homebuyers, people of color, and people with disabilities. C2. Address racial inequities and disparities in housing.
C3. Preserve and stabilize the viability of existing homeownership for low-income homeowners
D. Leverage and grow partnerships to support housing initiatives across the region.
Source: Spokane Housing Action Plan for 2021
MOLLY QUINN/ THE SPOKESMAN-REVIEW
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KHQ
SPOKANE, Wash. - A Spokane family is without a home Friday after a fire ripped through their apartment.
They're now on the hunt for a place to live but, the rental market like the housing market is not kind to misfortune.
Moving is a hassle for anyone in any rental market, but right now, it's particularly tough as affordable rentals are seemingly gone before they're even listed as available.
"Everything was just worse than I thought," Asmin Bellinger said.
This week, Asmin got the call no one wants to receive.
"There was smoke everywhere. Even got to the living room and the ceilings," she said.
An overloaded electric outlet sparked a fire that took her home within minutes.
"When we talked to the landlord, she said she was going to find another unit for us to go to," she said.
The property manager started looking for another option for the family within their complex, but nothing is available.
"She stated that there are no units available she stated that we just need to get our stuff and leave," she said.
Now without a home for herself, her three kids and one on the way, Asmin said she's struggling to keep her head above water.
"Our kids are constantly asking us when are we going home, when is the apartment going to be done," she said. "They don't understand and we haven't explained to them that we don't have a house we can't go anywhere. We have to stay in the car and figure it out, where we're going next."
Asmin paid her rent through the end of the month for her current unit, but according to the property manager, there's no place in the complex to accommodate the family.
While Asmin's story is unfortunate, tt's not uncommon.
The Spokane real estate market remains incredibly volatile and the number of affordable places to live continues to dwindle.
"Now there are some pretty high rent increases going on that people just can't afford to pay. But they move out and somebody else is right on their heels moving in," Tara Ostlind, a business development manager for Home River Group said."
The Home River Group and Ostlind are a part of the National Association of Property Managers.
She said Asmin's situation, isn't a shock.
"There are not a lot of options for anybody that gets displaced quickly and needs to move into an apartment or a house," she explained. "There just isn't anything, and there's almost nothing available under $1,000 in our market."
Often, new listings are put first on a property management website, just to get applicants in before an apartment even opens up.
Tara said many families don't have any other option but to move in with other family members. And if you don't have any loved ones nearby, your options are limited to living in a shelter or small hotels offering monthly rates.
"But there's not enough of those either," she admitted.
Which leaves Asmin and her growing family, without much hope for a new home.
"I think it's outrageous. Especially for the ones who lived there for so long, and a tragic thing happens—I feel like it shouldn't be okay. You're left on the street. And then you can reapply for the apartment, but it's not a guarantee," she said. "So it's like, are we going to have a place when this new baby comes? We don't know."
The family has received assistance from the Red Cross through emergency disaster funding and they do have renters' insurance, but with three kids and one more on the way, they're facing mounting challenges, with no certainty they'll find security in the future.
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The Center Square
Sheldon Jackson, owner of Selkirk Development, shared this and other photos of homeless encampments during Zoom presentation Thursday.
Photo courtesy of Sheldon Jackson
(The Center Square) – Sheldon Jackson, owner of Selkirk Development in Spokane, told a 65-member Zoom audience that it is time to “take back our city from irresponsible public officials.”
He issued the call for action this week during the monthly digital meeting organized by the Spokane Business & Commercial Property Owners Council. The group hosts the forums of 60 to 90 minutes to connect community members with government leaders at the local and state levels.
Jackson was invited by Chud Wendle, moderator of the event, to give an “update from the streets” as the owner of several properties. He addressed the hardships facing businesses during a time of high violence and property crime rates, particularly in areas with homeless encampments.
“Eighteen months ago, I was driving Spokane entrances and reporting on illegal camping, garbage, and graffiti,” he said. “What has changed? Today, I now report on violence, shootings, gang activity, assaults and murders.”
Jackson whose office is located in the historic Browne’s Addition, said there have been six murders in that neighborhood during the last 18 months.
“We need to ask ourselves, ‘Why Now?’” he said. “Why does the mayor and police chief need a Violent Crime Task force today? What laws have changed to cause this violence. Who is responsible?”
In addition to violent crimes, Jackson pointed out that vandalism and burglary have skyrocketed in Spokane, especially in the downtown blocks.
“Personally, I have had six instances of theft and damage at one building with costs to my family of over $30,000,” he said. “And that’s just one building.”
Jackson believes thefts are on the rise to generate money to feed drug addictions. He said vandalism and crimes that deface and damage properties seem tied to the mental illness of the perpetrators.
He blamed the increased lawlessness on soft on crime policies enacted by the Legislature and championed by some local government leaders.
His message is echoed by Jerry Dicker, owner and president of GVD Hospitality Management Services, which operates six downtown properties.
“I think city leaders have to do something to keep our streets safe and clean,” he said.
Like Jackson, he has hired security personnel to keep employees and customers safe. He has also spent tens of thousands to clean up graffiti and repair broken windows and other damages.
In addition, he said there is now human waste to clean up around buildings with the homeless population growing.
“This situation has deteriorated,” said Dicker.
He believes the downtown crime rate is higher than reported by city leaders because many business owners have quit calling police about crime that never stops.
“We started to complain in 2014 and it just gets worse every year," he said.
Dicker said police aren’t to blame for the situation, politicians are.
“The police are overwhelmed trying to do their job, this is a legislative problem,” he said.
As a result of increased crime, he said vacancies grow in the downtown corridor. Businesses can’t afford the added costs and are also losing customers due to public safety concerns.
“That means less income for the city and less job creation,” said Dicker.
He said the business community is now banding together to find solutions to the challenges that threaten viability.