Finding a decent entry-level-priced home may seem like a pipe dream for some aspiring homebuyers in Clark County.
On Wednesday, there were 11 homes on the market priced between $150,000 and $175,000, according to the Regional Multiple Listing Service, and most are in need of repair. As of last month, the median sale price for a home in Clark County was $265,000.
“Right now, wages are such that middle-income families can’t get into homeownership,” said Kathy Armstrong, deputy director of Proud Ground.
The Portland-based nonprofit, along with Evergreen Habitat for Humanity, is working to get more low- to moderate-income families out of the strained rental market and into their own homes. It’s one strategy to keep Clark County a place where people of varying incomes can live, Armstrong said.
Proud Ground homebuyer information sessions
6 to 7:30 p.m. Tuesday in the parish hall of St. Joseph Catholic Church, 400 S. Andresen Road, Vancouver.
10 to 11:30 a.m. Feb. 13 in the Meyer meeting room at the Battle Ground Library, 1207 S.E. Eighth Way, Battle Ground.
She uses San Francisco as an example of what the Portland-metro area should not become. Median home prices in San Francisco are more than $1 million and median rent is more than $4,500 a month for a two-bedroom apartment. That means that only the rich can afford to live there, Armstrong said.
“That is not a diverse, healthy community,” she said.
Proud Ground uses grants that buy down a home’s purchase price. For Clark County, that means qualifying families can get a home for $150,000 to $175,000 even though it’s worth thousands more. The program is not available to people in Vancouver city limits.
In the 2014-15 cycle, two Clark County households bought homes through Proud Ground. For the 2015-16 cycle, the agency has funding from the Clark County Community Service Department to get three households into their own homes.
“Our goal is more than that,” Armstrong said. “We could serve in this region thousands of people, if there was funding.”
Potential candidates can learn more about the program and how to qualify at upcoming information sessions being held in Vancouver and Battle Ground.
Proud Ground and its partner, the Community Housing Resource Center, also will make presentations next month to Clark County and Vancouver staff, to advocate for why the program should be funded in the 2016-17 cycle.
Armstrong aims to create a waiting list of candidates that Proud Ground can draw from when there’s an opening, whether that means funding is available or a Proud Ground homeowner is selling their home. Homes bought through Proud Ground remain affordable, so any future buyer can realize the savings.
Habitat homes
Construction is underway at Evergreen Habitat for Humanity’s three-home project on Winchell Avenue in Vancouver. Two of the homes, which were built by Mountain View and Evergreen high school students, were moved to the site earlier this month. They should be completed in February, said Josh Townsley, executive director of Evergreen Habitat for Humanity. YouthBuild is constructing the third home, which will be finished in the summer.
In April, Habitat will start building infrastructure for a 10-home subdivision in the Father Blanchet Park neighborhood in Vancouver. The project, called the Middle Way Subdivision, will include three duplexes and four detached single-family homes.
The homes cost $75,000 and are sold using zero-percent-interest loans, Townsley said. Applications for Habitat houses open back up this spring.
Townsley said that getting low-income families into homeownership is part of the “housing continuum.” Often, habitat families are coming from transitional housing, such as Section 8, so moving into homeownership frees up a transitional housing unit.
Like Proud Ground homes, Habitat homes remain affordable if the family moves out. They’re sold back to Evergreen Habitat for Humanity and then resold to a qualifying family.
Patty Hastings: 360-735-4513; twitter.com/pattyhastings; patty.hastings@columbian.com
