7/14/2022
####################################################
Spokesman-Review
INSTEAD OF LOOKING AWAY, LOOK TO THOSE READY TO ACT NOW ON HOMELESSNESS
Letter to the Editor - A housing problem and more
KREM
KHQ
KXLY
Wall St Journal
####################################################
Spokesman-Review
INSTEAD OF LOOKING AWAY, LOOK TO THOSE READY TO ACT NOW ON HOMELESSNESS
By Lisa Brown
A young woman sleeps curled up on a foam pad, covered by a blanket on the edge of a bike path in Olympia. In Seattle, a middle-age man struggling with PTSD paces in front of a tent, shouting at someone or something in the sky. A couple rise before dawn in Spokane, heading one at a time to a nearby gas station to wash; the other staying behind to guard their few belongings.
Roughly 53,200 people, including an estimated 6,300 children, are homeless in Washington state. When we dare to look closely, we see their stories are varied, complicated and very often heartbreaking. The pandemic only made things worse, growing numbers of those desperately in need and shrinking local resources and service providers.
Tackling homelessness is difficult work.
The root and systemic causes of the homeless crisis before us today have been decades in the making. They are complex and contentious. Communities across Washington state are divided on what to do. It has too often been too easy for many in positions of influence to look away, point fingers or pass the buck.
But the one thing we should all be able to agree on is that homelessness is an all society problem. And it will take all of us to begin turning the tide. State and local government, advocates, businesses, philanthropy, nonprofits, service providers and communities coming together in good faith will create the space for viable solutions to emerge. There will be debates and compromises, but there can be no meaningful progress until we find ways to work together.
With bipartisan support for nearly $1 billion targeted to housing and homelessness, the Washington Legislature this year has given us the chance to do just that – collaborate on meaningful solutions.
In the first opportunity out of the gate, the Department of Commerce has offered $144 million available immediately to five counties, including Spokane County, to address the urgent need to move people living in state rights of way to safer housing. A comprehensive plan is required from each county, and the cities where the sites are located, to take advantage of the funds. The plan must include providing outreach and offers of better housing for those living outside. Temporary housing, such as shelters and tiny homes, can be part of the plan, but not the entire plan. The Legislature requires that significant investments go in to long-term, permanent housing solutions. Longer-term solutions can include new construction of affordable housing or conversion of existing hotels and apartment buildings. Several types of flexible and one-time funds allow communities to design what works best for them.
In some counties, there is progress. In King County, the Department of Commerce signed an agreement with the King County Regional Housing Authority and moved people living in two encampments on rights of way to safer housing, with more progress to come. Two additional groups of people living on right of way property in Thurston County were also moved to safer housing, thanks to a collaborative plan engaging the county, the cities of Olympia, Lacey and Tumwater and local community housing providers.
The agreements we are striking in other counties across the state make it clear that coordination of local, state and nonprofit investments can lead to solutions.
The city of Spokane has the same opportunity for collaboration. $24 million in state funding is available to address an encampment along I-90 near Freya Street, which has grown to more than 500 people. Those individuals and families deserve to have a chance at better, and safer, living conditions. Local nonprofits have already come up with a detailed and viable plan to add 1,000 new beds in the next two years. My hope is that Spokane city and county leaders will follow suit with their own proposal to take advantage of the funds Commerce has to offer.
We must not waste the opportunity before us. Every person in our communities deserves safe shelter and a pathway to affordable housing, and our local businesses and neighborhoods deserve to see progress. Lisa Brown is an economist and educator serving as the director of the Washington State Department of Commerce. She served in both houses of the Washington state Legislature for 20 years, including eight years as the first Democratic female majority leader of the Washington State Senate, representing District 3. From 2013 to 2017, Brown was chancellor of Washington State University, Spokane, where she led the health science campus. She resides in Spokane.
By Matthew Boesler and Prashant Gopal
BLOOMBERG
Rents rose in the U.S. last month at the fastest pace since 1986, helping to propel overall inflation to a fresh four-decade high.
An index measuring rent of a primary residence was 0.8% higher in June than the month before, an acceleration from the 0.6% increase recorded in May, according to the Labor Department’s report on consumer prices published Wednesday.
In the 12 months through June, rents were up 5.8%.
Those costs are soaring across the country as would-be homebuyers get priced out by the fastest-rising mortgage rates in decades and slide back into the overcrowded rental market.
But rent growth may be peaking as affordability concerns mount, and a surge in construction of new units is poised to start adding to the available inventory.
In it’s July report, ApartmentList. com indicated that rents in Spokane increased 0.6% in June and 3.5% since last year.
The current median price for rent in Spokane is $955 for a one-bedroom apartment and $1,290 for a two-bedroom.
The increase marks the fifth straight monthly rent hike, but Spokane’s year-over-year numbers lag behind Washington state’s 13.8% increase and the nation’s 14.1% increase, according to the ApartmentList.com data.
The Labor Department measure tends to lag behind other estimates, so it is likely that rent increases will contribute to rising inflation in the consumer price index through the rest of this year, according to Mark Zandi, chief economist of Moody’s Analytics.
“The big increase in CPI rents is catch-up with the consistent double-digit growth in market rents,” Zandi said.
“The good news is that market rents appear to be topping out, as renters are not able to afford the higher rents and are balking. More rental supply is also coming, although this will take a year or two to have a meaningful impact on market rents.”
Nearly 836,000 multifamily units are under construction, the most since 1973, according to Jay Parsons, chief economist at RealPage.
But most new construction targets higher-income tenants and not the lower end, where supply shortages are most extreme, he said.
Wage growth continues to outpace rent increases, but that gap is closing.
“Affordability is not a major headwind yet in the market-rate rental sector, but it could quickly become one if wage growth slows,” Parsons said.
Rents, along with a category known as owners’ equivalent rent that often moves in tandem, account for more than 30% of the consumer price index, giving them outsize weight in overall inflation trends.
Given the close ties between rents and wages, the accelerating pace of increases will keep Federal Reserve officials on an aggressive tightening path.
Average hourly earnings for production and nonsupervisory workers rose 6.4% in the 12 months through June and have generally outpaced rents since the pandemic began – a reversal of the trend that prevailed throughout much of the economic expansion of the 2010s.
But the gap has narrowed in recent months as increases in earnings have moderated and rental inflation has accelerated.
“Even if rents are coming down later this year, the CPI measure will likely still have rent surging well into 2023,” said Anna Wong, the chief U.S. economist for Bloomberg Economics.
“If the Fed is reacting to CPI in setting monetary policy, that means that they could be hiking well into economic weakness.”
Letter to the Editor
Mayor Woodward and Councilmen Cathcart and Bingle think being unhoused is too “easy and comfortable.” They’d rather risk a lawsuit than spend money to implement a few key solutions used successfully in other communities. They believe, despite data to the contrary, that homelessness is perpetuated by vices, laziness, hoards bused in from other locales and those who prefer a camping lifestyle.
In Spokane and nationally, budgets for affordable and subsidized housing are out of balance with needs. Wealth disparities keep climbing, housing is marketized as a wealth-building tool for investors and policy inequities have ravaged middle- and lower-income working folks. Mean-spirited, inhumane policies are evident in multiple quality-of-life measures.
America has a mental health problem, valuing profits over people, capitalism without compassion, weapons of war over human life and safety, arrogant privilege disparaging the humanity of others, imposed intrusion into individual privacy and control over female autonomy. Our illness is apparent in lack of attention to the most basic of essential human needs: clean air, water, nutritious food, housing and belonging in community.
Many of our elected leaders tout a value system supposedly based on specific religious tenets. Yet they impose punitive, draconian measures that reek of elitism and judgment. Vote in elected leaders who value people and the environment on which people depend. Vote for those who will pivot our society toward sustainability, inclusivity and healing from power over others. We will all do better when we all do better. Let’s get on with it.
Marilyn Darilek
####################################################
KREM
The survey asks homeless people where they lived before they became homeless, how they ended up in their position and what services they need to recover.
SPOKANE, Wash. — More than 1,700 homeless individuals were counted in Spokane for the "Point in Time" survey, asking homeless individuals where they were sleeping on the night of February 24. The count provides a snapshot of our region's homeless crisis.
The annual count, which was canceled in 2021 due to the pandemic, also asks people where they lived before they became homeless, how they ended up in their position and what services they need to recover.
Those results were shared Wednesday at a presentation in the downtown library. A total of 1,757 people were counted this year, 198 more than in 2020.
Of those counted this year, 53% said they were staying in emergency or transitional shelters. 823 people, or 46%, said they were sleeping on the street.
They were asked what kept them from using a shelter.
"What we found is that the top reason cited was safety or fear of violence, followed by privacy and anxiety," one presenter said.
The survey also asked people the last place they lived before becoming homeless. 74% said they lived either in Spokane or the county. The majority had a local address for 10 or more years.
One of the most important questions asked how people became homeless in the first place and what they need the most
"What are the primary reasons why you became homeless? Number one: lack of affordable housing. They're telling us. What's missing from the current shelter system? Access to permanent housing. What services are you most in need of? Number one: housing," one presenter said.
One in three people counted on the street said they struggle with mental illness. Click here to see a breakdown of these results.
####################################################
KHQ
SPOKANE, Wash. - Researchers from the City of Spokane, Spokane Public Library, and Eastern Washington University came together Wednesday afternoon at Central Library in Downtown Spokane to break down data from the city's point in time homeless count that was released in May.
Organizers said the focus of this year's study wasn't just finding out how many people were unhoused, but also learning more about what circumstances might have led them to that point.
"We ask those experiencing homelessness 'how do you see the problem and what do you need?'" explained Daniel Ramos III.
Ramos works for the City of Spokane as a business systems analyst and a community management information systems administrator. He worked as the project manager for the city's point in time count and Wednesday's presentation.
Data from the study shows 46% of homeless people in Spokane who participated in the point in time count credit unemployment or lack of affordable housing for the reason why they're homeless.
"It's one thing to say 'this is the number, 1757 is the total persons,' then to say 'what does this mean?'" Ramos said. "To then add onto it, 'here's what the state of housing looks like,' and then for citizens to go, 'what do you think about this?'"
Researchers say average housing prices and rent in Spokane have both nearly doubled over the last 10 years.
A chart from the presentation shows Spokane's housing affordability index drop almost directly coinciding with a spike in point in time count numbers since 2017.
Dr. Shiloh Dietz is Spokane Public Library's Community Data Coordinator.
"Curating this data is our contribution to the solution, but it's really for other people then to assess what they can do," Dr. Dietz said.
Members of the Spokane community took part in Wednesday's meeting via a question and answer session. Community involvement in the process was a big goal for researchers.
Susan Irwin is new to Spokane, and attended the presentation to find out ways to get involved and learn more about her new community.
"It's good to get the layout, and the whole thought of what the big picture is, and finding out there are studies going on and people wanting to help," Irwin said.
Spokane resident Ruth May hopes this presentation is just the beginning.
"[I hope] that this data is utilized in a way that makes sense, that this isn't just a pontification moment. Hopefully it can move beyond there," May said.
"That is the ultimate goal," Anna Staal, a graduate research assistant from Eastern Washington University, said. "There's no reason in asking why unless you want to know what can be done about it, what can be done to prevent it and help the people that are already experiencing it."
The complete presentation from the City of Spokane can be found by clicking here.
####################################################
KXLY
July 13, 2022 6:57 PM
Updated: July 13, 2022 6:59 PM
SPOKANE, Wash. — An affordable housing complex is coming to the West Hills neighborhood. Catholic Charities is preparing the old motel off Government Way and Sunset Boulevard for demolition.
Catholic Charities says the site will stay vacant as they work towards developing an affordable family housing community.
Neighbors in west hills say they feel left out of the conversation about the plans for the space. He says he started noticing crews starting to work on the hotel a few days ago.
Andre Dove is the pastor at Restoration Church right across the street from the motel.
Dove says he has no problem with Catholic Charity’s plan to add affordable housing for families but is concerned the plans could change.
“Is this going to be a low-barrier shelter? Is this going to be legitimately what you say it’s going to be, or do you have something under your sleeve that you’re not willing to expose yet and then it’s just going to happen upon us,” he said.
He and other community members say they have not been contacted by the non-profit.
“As one of the spokespersons in the community, to be able to relay that information back to the community to kind of set the emotions at ease,” Dove said.
Catholic Charities claims its staff have been in contact with the West Hills Neighborhood Council about the project.
Joe Long lives up the street from the motel and says affordable housing is needed in Spokane, but he too wants transparency from Catholic Charities.
“How much more we as a community and property owners withstand? We’re down at the park everyday picking up garbage we’ve picked up needles in the past,”
Long also worries about what the new community complex could mean for property values in the area.
“We’re not sitting up here saying no don’t come here. We don’t want you to–we’re sitting here saying, okay this makes sense, we need it here in Spokane. How are we going to do it? and how does it affect all if us,” Long said.
Catholic Charities says the project is not fully funded, and they have no set timeframe for its completion.
Posted: July 30, 2021 6:54 PM by Katerina Chryssafis
SPOKANE, Wash. — There are more than 500,000 people living on the streets in the U.S. That includes hundreds here in the Inland Northwest, and while battling homelessness is not an easy process, one local organization is working to bridge that gap.
People having a place of their own, a bed to sleep in at night; these are the things so many take for granted. For the people living in the new Beatriz and Ed Schweitzer Haven building, it’s a dream come true.
“A lot of people, they can’t do anything about their homelessness. They have no resources,” said Daniel Hall, who has been homeless for ten years.
Hall knows firsthand, life isn’t always easy. He says it all started when he got divorced. He was kicked off of his military benefits shortly after.
“I lived under these bridges for ten years. It was bad,” he said.
Hall isn’t alone in this. President and CEO of Catholic Charities Rob McCann says there are hundreds of people living on the streets of Spokane.
“The folks that moved into this building on average have been homeless 11.2 years before they moved into this building,” McCann said.
He says the building has been a life saver for people living without a home. Today, he along with other community members, celebrated its official grand opening.
“What we have here is fifty units for the chronically homeless men and women here in our downtown area,” McCann said.
The Beatriz and Ed Schweitzer Haven is just one of 12 buildings owned by Catholic Charities built specifically for those without a roof over their heads.
“We’re trying to laser focus on that issue of chronic street homelessness in our community. Get those people off the street, out from under bridges, out of shelters and into permanent forever homes,” he said. “We stabilize people, get them mental health and substance abuse treatment, case management, job counseling to help them get employed.”
A forever home and a fresh start. Something Hall never thought would be possible.
“I just feel so blessed to be here,” Hall said.
####################################################
Wall St Journal
After years of Nimbyism, a new movement has reframed urban growth as a progressive goal for creating equitable and sustainable cities.
July 13, 2022 7:03 pm ET
The free market has failed to deliver affordable housing to Americans because of government restrictions on supply. In those parts of the country, like Houston, where building activity is lightly regulated, prices remain low despite enormous demand. In other areas, including Boston and San Francisco, new developments are constrained by a thicket of building regulations supported by entrenched local interests—often referred to collectively as Nimby, or Not in My Backyard. Any new demand thus inexorably leads to higher home prices.
Artificial restrictions on housing supply have enriched older homeowners while limiting home ownership among the young. In turn, American GDP suffers, because our most productive regions, such as Silicon Valley, make it impossible to build, forcing people to move instead to less productive, lower-cost locales.
Setting housing markets free, however, would require more than the election of a pro-growth president or governor; there need to be countless smaller victories at the local, city-council and town-planning levels. Now there is Yimby—or Yes in My Back Yard—a pro-growth movement that may be our best hope for making coastal America more affordable.
Max Holleran’s “Yes to the City: Millennials and the Fight for Affordable Housing,” focuses on the fascinating conflict between Yimbys and some more-progressive groups, including old-line environmentalists and community activists, such as the protesters who stormed the 2018 YIMBY town conference in Boston with their yellow shirts, drums, kazoos, vuvuzelas and “giant signs decrying displacement.”
Antigrowth advocates have long depicted developers as greedy destroyers of neighborhoods. Often forgotten is Adam Smith’s wise dictum that “it is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer or the baker, that we expect our dinner, but from their regard to their own interest.” The Yimbys, Mr. Holleran tells us, “successfully reframed urban growth as a progressive goal for creating more equitable and sustainable cities.” The battle is no longer between wealthy developers and the little guys in the neighborhood, but the little-guy renters who are kept out of the market by wealthy boomers.
In one example, Mr. Holleran describes how, beginning in the 1950s, a “group of college professors, concerned citizens, and activists with links to the League of Women Voters” came together in Boulder, Colo., to work toward “a municipal ‘land bank’ of undevelopable property surrounding the city.” These citizens “were devoted to creating an environmental paradise,” Mr. Holleran tells us, but the “protective greenbelt” also created a de facto barrier to the city, inside of which growth was severely regulated. Meanwhile, outside the greenbelt there emerged “an endless stretch of unimaginative suburban homes on cul-de-sacs, connected by highways and strip malls, dotted with box stores.”
That greenbelt has since helped drive Boulder’s average home sales above $850,000 in the first quarter of 2022. Its environmental impact has surely also been negative, as it increases commuter distances—and hence carbon emissions—for those living outside of it and must travel into the city by car.
Boulder’s high housing prices and progressive politics made the city an ideal opportunity for the Yimbys, while the region’s house-rich environmentalists did not garner much sympathy. And so in 2015 the Yimbys easily defeated a ballot referendum that sought to give Boulder neighborhoods “veto power over land use.” It was, Mr. Holleran tells us, “a tremendous win for Yimbys in a city where voting on development mostly goes the other way.”
A central lesson of Mr. Holleran’s book is that the Yimby message works well against wealthy environmentalists, but that it has a particular weakness against groups representing lower-income neighborhoods, whether in San Francisco or Austin or elsewhere. This is because Yimbys generally “support all new housing as a pressure valve to ease the affordability crisis,” but “this often means greenlighting expensive new apartments first,” while projects for poorer residents languish. Instead of mass construction for the middle-class, the combined interests of developers and community advocates often result in building projects that are targeted at the rich, but that include several units designated for the poor. Mr. Holleran describes one development in San Francisco’s Mission District that ended up with 41.5% of the project as affordable housing. Building plenty of below-market-rate housing may help mollify the affordable-housing advocates, but they are also a large implicit tax on developers and a disincentive to build.
Mr. Holleran, an urban sociologist at the University of Melbourne, sees plenty to admire in the Yimbys’ lessons for people living together in a community, “compromising between self-interest and community well-being, and striving to create realistic urban policy.” I agree. Conversely, I am less worried that, as Mr. Holleran warns, a “centrist free-market approach of simply allowing upzoning and more building permits” could “miss out on using a political opportunity that would allow far more long-sighted control of the built environment, restructuring the ability of state and federal governments to take advantage of a crisis to buttress climate change risks and decommodifying housing.” But you don’t need to agree with all of Mr. Holleran’s policy perspectives to appreciate his keen grasp of the progressive forces aligned against the Yimby fight for affordable housing.
Mr. Glaeser is a professor of economics at Harvard, a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute and the co-author of “Survival of the City.”