I attended a city forum held on Proposition 1 (the Affordable Housing Fund) and was impressed at how well thought out the plan is. The money would be dedicated to the plan for seven years. But a new tax will not stem the rise in homelessness.
The Legislature needs to revisit the state law passed in 1981 (RCW 35.21.830) that prohibits local governments from enacting rent controls (except for publicly owned or managed rentals). Large metropolitan areas where the homeless problem is most acute need the ability to regulate rent increases to a percentage of the CPI for that city. In the last six months rents in Vancouver have increased 8.5 percent. The CPI for Vancouver grew 1.7 percent in the last 12 months. Neither wages nor Social Security benefits will increase enough to cover such hikes in rents; hence, more homeless.
Since homelessness is a major drain on local governments, those governments should be allowed reasonable control over rental costs. Facing a crisis, the city of Vancouver came up with the Affordable Housing Fund, but the public cannot afford continually building or subsidizing affordable housing. It would cost the taxpayers nothing to enact reasonable rent controls locally if the state would allow it. If we can’t put the brakes on this obscene inflation in rents, we’ll never get a handle on the homeless problem — or the subsequent cost to taxpayers with or without Prop 1.
