Facing the affordable housing crisis

The character of a community, Vancouver Mayor Tim Leavitt once said, is defined by how it cares for its most vulnerable citizens.

In November, city of Vancouver residents will decide if raising property taxes is the best way to ease what’s been deemed an affordable housing emergency.

“We have families in dire circumstances,” Leavitt said.

Some believe there is a moral obligation to help, the mayor said, but there are also social and economic impacts.

“We as a community will evolve and prosper in our neighborhoods, schools and businesses if everybody has the opportunity to be contributing citizens,” Leavitt said.

The statistics are compelling: Vacancy rates have dipped to less than 2 percent, while the increase in median rent for a two-bedroom apartment jumped by 15.6 percent, from $900 to $1,040 a month, from October 2014 to October 2015, the highest percentage increase in the nation.

Income growth hasn’t kept pace with rising rents, leaving a dearth of affordable housing options for tens of thousands of the city’s residents. In Clark County, more than 24,000 renters are considered cost-burdened, spending more than 30 percent of their monthly income on housing. An estimated 15,000 of the cost-burdened renters live in the city. Between the Vancouver and Evergreen school districts, there were more than 2,000 homeless students in the previous school year. Emergency shelters were at capacity last winter.

“We see the community as having a huge decision,” Andy Silver, director of the Council for the Homeless, said of Proposition 1. “Either being OK with a community where seniors are getting priced out and where hard-working families aren’t able to meet their rent and basic needs, or charting a new path where kids have an opportunity to learn and succeed in life and seniors live with dignity.”

Behind each statistic is a story: Cayla Prouty, a single mom, who despite holding down a job, found herself sleeping in her car, scared to close her eyes — afraid of who might knock on the window. Or Judi Avvocato, a senior citizen living on a fixed income who, after years of working as an accountant, landed in a homeless shelter.

At a rate of 36 cents per $1,000 of assessed property value, the affordable housing tax measure, Proposition 1, would increase property taxes for a home valued at $250,000 by about $90 a year. The taxes would create an affordable housing fund overseen by the city of Vancouver. The measure would pass with a simple majority.

The revenue would go toward three goals: increasing housing supply, preserving existing housing, and preventing homelessness.

But for some who are living on the cusp, $90 a year could be a burden.

Earlier this year, Mike Boynton told the Vancouver City Council he understood the housing crisis was a complex issue. He’s fortunate, he said, because he is a homeowner.

“But there are other considerations; my wife has multiple sclerosis,” Boynton told the council. “We live conservatively.”

The medicine to help his wife is upwards of $55,000 a year, he said. And although they receive help from grants, an extra $90 a year for taxes would be felt.

Boynton said he wasn’t convinced asking the taxpayers to solve the crisis was the right solution.

Faces behind numbers

In 2014, Prouty decided to return home with her four children. She was living in Arizona with her family when she went through a divorce and loss of a child.

It was time for a new start. But Vancouver had changed while she had been away. Even holding down two jobs waiting tables wasn’t enough to secure an apartment.

She scoured the listings and tried more than a dozen places. Her credit history wasn’t great, and she was rejected.

Then she heard the stories of the Courtyard Village Apartments, a large complex of buildings where people were being forced out because rents were increasing as the property was remodeled.

She started to feel desperate and the family ended up couch surfing and sleeping in her car.

“I would be so afraid to sleep, in case something happened to the kids. It made me crazy in my head, not being able to sleep,” Prouty said.

Eventually, she connected with the Council for the Homeless. The nonprofit paid a $2,800 deposit to move her into an apartment. For the past eight months, she’s been living in the apartment and paying the rent. There’s a playground for her young children.

“I really needed a helping hand up and they were there for me,” she said. “A lot of people think homeless people do drugs or don’t want to work. But that’s not true. There are people that are homeless and have jobs and don’t use drugs and alcohol. There are so many reasons why people can be homeless in our community.”

Prouty said she’s grateful the nonprofit was there.

“It’s good to express your gratitude. I have a lot of it,” she said.

Avvocato, a senior citizen, landed in a homeless shelter when she couldn’t find an affordable place to live. The Council for the Homeless also helped her secure a place to live. But she still lives in fear about what a rent spike could mean for her. A former accountant, she’s good with numbers. Each month is carefully mapped out: rent, $595, phone, $115.36, utilities, $80. For October there’s also $12 for postage carved out so she can send her autistic grandson a birthday present. There’s no room for error.

Both Prouty and Avvocato could easily be considered success stories.

Those in the midst of crisis are harder to reach.

“For every one person we’re able to help stay in their apartment, we get about 300 or 400 phone calls for people we aren’t able to help because there aren’t enough funds. Yeah, it’s pretty bad right now,” Silver said.

Three goals

Proposition 1 has three goals:

The primary goal is to increase the supply of affordable housing.

At a rate of 36 cents per $1,000 of assessed property value, the property tax levy is projected to generate $6 million annually for seven years. About 40 percent of the affordable housing fund would be spent on incentives for private and nonprofit developers to build both mixed-income and affordable buildings. Through a competitive grant process, an estimated 3,300 homes would be built or preserved for those making less than half of the community’s average income, according to Silver.

Developers would have to sign a contract specifying they would offer rents to people making less than 50 percent of the median income. For a one-bedroom apartment that’s $643 a month, for a two-bedroom that’s $734, compared with the fair market value of $1,028 for a one-bedroom and $1,208 for a two-bedroom.

To qualify, a single person would need to earn less than $25,700 annually; for a couple their income would need to be less than $29,350; and for a family of four, less than $36,650.

The second goal is to preserve existing housing. Twenty-seven percent of the fund would go toward preserving existing housing, by helping property owners repair and maintain their buildings. The money could also help qualifying seniors stay in their homes. Take the example of Courtyard Village, which was sold and whose residents were forced to move.

“If we had this affordable housing fund, someone could have used the money from the fund, make the repairs and keep the rents affordable versus selling it on the private market where an out-of-state company came in and jacked up the rents,” Silver said.

The fund’s third purpose would be to provide emergency rental assistance, allowing nonprofits to apply for grant money to help people stay in their homes.

The city of Vancouver modeled the proposition off a similar measure that passed in Bellingham in 2012.

Silver estimated about 10,000 families would be helped by the measure, if it passes.

In Portland, voters will consider a $258 million bond measure in November to help increase affordable housing.

Vancouver has historically served as a release valve for cost-burdened Portland renters.

“The more affordable housing we can build helps the region as a whole,” Silver said. “Best-case scenario it passes in both Portland and Vancouver, it will be a double benefit in the region.”