8/10/2022
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The Spokesman-Review
Rent hikes spark call for tenant assistance
KREM
KHQ
The Center Square
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The Spokesman-Review
Rent hikes spark call for tenant assistance
By Rachel Siegel
WASHINGTON POST
The White House hasn’t done enough to fight rent inflation, says a coalition of tenant unions, community organizations and legal groups calling on the Biden administration to launch an allout government response to intervene.
A set of proposals, shared with The Washington Post, calls on the Biden administration to declare a state of emergency on housing and explore ways to regulate rents.
The proposals span six government agencies and are intended to push federal regulators to consider new ways to curb rental costs, which were up 5.8% in June compared with the year before.
Overall prices are up 9.1% compared with last year, and inflation remains the top economic problem facing households, businesses and policymakers alike.
In recent months, the Biden administration has come under enormous pressure to find any means of slashing gas prices, another major way people feel inflation in their daily lives.
The White House has responded with oil releases and by calling on Congress to consider a gas tax holiday, which didn’t happen.
Advocates want the same urgency and solutions for housing, calling it its own economic crisis.
“We urge the President to act immediately to regulate rents, as part of the Administration’s efforts to curb inflation, and as a critical foundation for long term protections to correct the imbalance of power between tenants and their landlords,” according to a memo the coalition sent to National Economic Council Director Brian Deese and other White House advisers.
The effort, part of a campaign called Homes Guarantee, comes one week after the White House held a summit on its efforts to prevent evictions during the pandemic and keep financial support flowing to struggling renters.
During an online forum, White House officials touted progress under the Emergency Rental Assistance program, which was propped up in the thick of the COVID crisis to stave off a wave of evictions once a federal moratorium was no longer in place.
The money was exceedingly slow to go out at first, but the program ramped up.
Some $40 billion, out of a $46 billion pot, has been obligated or spent, according to the Treasury Department, and eviction filings nationally remain below their historical averages.
While the summit was presented as a kind of victory lap, Biden administration officials acknowledged there is more work to do, especially as soaring rents narrow the options where families can afford to live.
Redfin data shows that in May, the median monthly asking rent in the United States surpassed $2,000 for the first time, with rental increases spanning the nation.
“The question is, are we content to let this first-ever national infrastructure for eviction reduction crumble?” Gene Sperling, coordinator of the American Rescue Plan, the 2021 pandemic relief package, said at last week’s summit.
“Or are we going to build on it and strengthen it and make permanent gains?”
A big reason housing costs are soaring is that there aren’t enough homes.
The United States needs 1.5 million to 5 million housing units built, according to a broad range of economic estimates.
In May, the White House unveiled its Housing Supply Action Plan, which aims to close the country’s housing shortfall in five years.
But those investments would do little to combat rental inflation now. Curbing inflation is the job of the Federal Reserve, which has launched an aggressive effort to bring prices down through interest rate hikes.
But the Fed cannot target any specific parts of the economy, let alone build houses, leaving more tailored solutions to elected officials.
“Tenants have to pay their rent every month, and the alternative is homelessness,” said Tara Raghuveer, Homes Guarantee’s campaign director at People’s Action.
“If the president intends to take meaningful action to curb inflation, he must be serious about using every available authority to regulate the rent.”
Specifically, the coalition wants a Cabinet-level task force to look into regulating rents and securing legal help for tenants in eviction proceedings.
Advocates also want the Treasury Department to issue new rules that direct state and local grantees to keep landlords from increasing rent beyond a certain amount as a condition of receiving rental aid.
They say the Department of Housing and Urban Development should look into whether rising rents are contributing to inequality and preventing access to fair housing.
And the group wants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to impose rent regulations on all borrowers of federally backed mortgages.
Zonnie Thompson, 23, lives in one of those properties in Stockton, California.
His rent recently went from $1,500 to $1,700.
As part of a tenant delegation, Thompson is traveling to Washington this week to discuss solutions with the head of the Federal Housing Finance Agency.
“We want them to commit to working with organizations across the country, such as our own, to roll out policies that will protect tenants and increase their ability to stay in their homes,” Thompson said.
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KREM
The project, called "The Catalyst," will have room for 100 homeless men and women. Some of them are from the homeless camp near I-90 and Freya.
SPOKANE, Wash. — As Catholic Charities lays out its plan to buy the Quality Inn Hotel on Sunset Highway, more neighbors and business owners are speaking out against the project, including one developer who is putting plans to build more apartments in the area on hold.
Gib Brumback had big plans for the empty lot he bought several months ago: a five-story, 72 unit complex.
But, when Brumback found out what Catholic Charities planned to do with the hotel next door, he put the project on hold.
Brumback also owns the office building right next to the Quality Inn.
"This neighborhood is going to explode in positive growth which has not been here for literally two or three decades and it's happening right now and it may be stopping right now," Brumback said.
Catholic Charities is moving forward with plans to buy the Quality Inn and turn it into an emergency supportive housing community.
"It's really intended to quickly stabilize people, support them, hold them accountable and then help them exit into a permanent housing solution," Catholic Charities Chief Stabilization Officer Dawn Kinder said.
The project, called "The Catalyst," will have room for 100 homeless men and women. Some of them will come from the homeless camp near I-90 and Freya, ready to make a change in their lives, according to Catholic Charities. Residents will need to be referred from other service providers and will be screened and selected based on their likelihood of success in housing.
"This program does have accountability for residents and so if folks staying with us are not able to meet those participation and engagement requirements, we will be able to ask them to leave," Kinder said.
Catholic Charities is now waiting on a second round of funding from the Department of Commerce to retrofit the building, install a fence around the property and add more security cameras and lights in the parking lot.
"They can talk about fencing their property, fencing their property and what they are saying now; it means nothing to me," Brumback said.
Brumback says he was never given a heads up about the project. So does West Hills Neighborhood Council Vice Chair William Hagey.
"The word Catholic Charities entering into the arena has frightened so many people," Hagey said. "We had no indication any of this was happening, any of the residents, even the West Hills Neighborhood Council."
Catholic Charities says there's a reason for that. The owner of the hotel didn't want them talking to neighbors or the news.
"The seller had concerns about that news being made public and the impact on employees and so there was an agreement to not talk publicly about that acquisition," Kinder said.
If Catholic Charities is awarded the second portion of these funds, they expect the "Catalyst" building to open within 60 days.
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KHQ
COLVILLE, Wash. - Mixed feelings are traveling throughout the small town of Colville as the city plans to move the homeless population into a fenced-in site in the coming months.
Currently, many homeless people are setting up camps on the north side of town, off the streets and keeping to themselves. Still, the situation is not ideal.
“None of us want to be here, I don’t know anybody that wants to live this way,” Camp Resident Barbara Barbee said.
Barbee has experienced homelessness in Colville for three winters. She is a double amputee and she is legally blind.
“My options are very slim here, I don’t like being out here, it’s not something I wanted to do,” Barbee said. “I didn’t have any choice."
This is where Hope Street Rest Stop, a local nonprofit that aims to give support and resources to the homeless community, comes in.
“At Hope Street I guide people and give them hope,” Hope Street Director Teresa Lang said.
Lang does outreach on Tuesdays, moving across the town to each popular homeless camp, handing out water and food. On days where someone needs a hug or someone to talk to, she is there.
"I will fight for them," Lang said.
Lang’s colleague who is on the board at Hope Street Rest Stop, Shiloh Reynolds, was once homeless himself.
“I was a veteran and I came home injured, and was homeless myself,” Reynolds said. “I was an addict.”
He got clean and back on his feet, finding a home, and then finding a purpose; giving back to the community he was once part of.
“It is probably the greatest sense of purpose in my life since leaving the army,” Reynolds said.
Right now, a plan proposed by the city, under Mayor Jack Smith’s leadership, is in the works to move each homeless person in Colville to a new site so they are all in one place. According to Mayor Smith, the goal here is to bring “dignity and responsibility” back to those who are homeless in Colville, while “protecting” those who are not.
Lang and Reynolds agree this plan will not work.
“It’s almost like you’re being punished for being homeless,” Lang said.
This new site will be on the opposite side of town from the main camp, the one where Barbee lives in her trailer, next to the wetlands on an old trailer park lot. Gravel will be laid down, portable toilets provided, all enclosed by a fence.
“I think they should be grateful that we’re making such a nice accommodation for them,” Mayor Smith said.
A “nice accommodation” that has a time limit on how long you can stay; any homeless person who goes through the new site’s fencing, only has three weeks to be there before they will be required to leave.
Mayor Smith said there will be a certain number of days before the person can return to the site.
“As long as we live in the state of Washington, we’re going to abide by the laws of Washington,” Smith said. “Which it says unless we have a place for someone to go, we can’t move them off our streets or move them from illegal camping anywhere.”
The law says that a city can only enforce public camping laws If there are shelter beds available in the town.
In response to this, Lang said:
“We get to choose where we live, why can’t they choose where they live?”
Mayor Smith said the new site is scheduled to be ready for people to come to in the next two to three months.
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The Center Square
Bruce Harrell speaks Thursday, Oct. 14, 2021, during the first of two debates in Seattle scheduled before the November election for the office of mayor. Harrell is running against Lorena Gonzalez. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren, Pool)
Ted S. Warren/ AP Photos
(The Center Square) – The Seattle Office of Housing is dedicating $22 million toward the production of 267 new income-restricted homes in the Northgate and South Park neighborhoods.
The announcement of the spending came yesterday, as the total amount of money Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell has pushed towards affordable housing in 2022 is now $48 million. That total is expected to support 450 homes, according to the city.
SeaMar Community Health runs the home in South Park that is expected to provide 77 affordable housing units to persons and families who qualify. SeaMar will use the ground floor of the building as a clinic for members of the South Park community.
GMD Development will run Northgate Family Housing to provide 190 homes for low-income families and persons.
Harrell’s office okayed a combined $23.7 million earlier this year to acquire Dockside Apartments in Green Lake and support SeaMar’s Beacon Hill housing center, both of which are newly constructed. Harrell also okayed funding for $2.3 million to the Seattle Filipino Community’s acquisition of land for future affordable housing development.
The director of the Seattle Office of Housing, Maiko Winkler-Chin, believes the need for affordable housing in Seattle is at an all time high, and that these funds will do a great deal to help.
“Thanks to the hard work and dedication of City staff, leadership and our community partners, the investments announced [yesterday] are another step forward in addressing housing affordability throughout our city,” Winkler-Chin said in a statement.
As part of the efforts to provide more affordable housing, Winkler-Chin and her office recently made a separate announcement of $44 million in funds available through the Fall Notice of Funding Availability. In this year’s NOFA, funding will be used to support further construction of affordable rental housing in Seattle.
The city said that this Fall NOFA places priority on projects that will “address displacement" and also "projects that create or preserve access to housing for people experiencing homelessness and projects that will increase access to opportunity.”
Last year, the Office of Housing put over $140 million towards the acquisition, production and preservation of over 1,500 affordable housing units, according to the city.
The funding for the annual spending comes from the Seattle Housing Levy that was voter-approved in 2016, payments made through the Mandatory Housing Affordability program, as well as from federal, state and local resources.