Michelle Girardot and Ezra Eckhardt: Time for a community investment in affordable housing
By Michelle Girardot and Ezra Eckhardt
Spokane has a housing crisis.
As this newspaper reported on Aug. 11, sales prices have spiked dramatically and supplies are low. Rental prices also have risen faster than the average family’s wages. And, critically, there are not enough low-income units to meet demand, which is at an all-time high.
A family wishing to partner with Habitat for Humanity can wait over a year for the opportunity. Others are waiting in homeless shelters for 18 months to two years before having access to a low-income apartment.
Homelessness was already a huge topic in our community, and collectively we’ve explored many options without finding a solution. Getting people off the streets becomes only more complicated when affordable rentals are in short supply.
In the 1980s, rent on low-income apartments in our community were within reach for a worker earning near-minimum wage. Many seniors living on Social Security could afford market-rate housing. That’s no longer the case in Spokane, where we haven’t built any units for workforce or senior housing in over five years. Meanwhile, our population has continued to age, and many people struggle to climb up from minimum-wage jobs.
We know that stable housing provides more than just shelter. For Megan Curran, who was chronically homeless for several years, finding affordable housing was the first step toward finding solutions to other life challenges. Today, she has a full-time job and is a participating member of our community.
STCU and Habitat for Humanity believe in low-income housing and opening up opportunities for affordable homeownership. Buying an affordable home is the fastest way for a struggling family to build wealth, and to confront inequality and inequity in our society. It empowers generations of families to escape the cycle of poverty and is still the No. 1 catalyst in building wealth in America.
COVID-19 has revealed racial and economic inequalities. Those impacted most by closures, lack of child care and inability to pay rent are disproportionately from communities of color. There’s no safe sheltering at home, if home doesn’t exist. Providing opportunities for affordable homeownership is an important way to confront what we see, and sometimes do not know how to fix.
Yet federal and state allocations for the construction of low-income housing have decreased, even during times of national prosperity. In the 1990s, community leaders offered citizens a local solution, providing the opportunity to put local revenue into a local housing trust fund. Housing is a complex issue and raising taxes is controversial; despite broad support, the measure failed in Spokane.
Fortunately, a solution is at hand.
Championed by local legislators and the City of Spokane, House Bill 1590 passed in the Washington Legislature in March, giving county commissioners the authority to raise the sales tax by one-tenth of 1%. That money would go into a local fund to be used to build more housing and provide support in those units. If a county does not act on the opportunity by Sept. 30, cities may do so themselves.
As CEOs of Spokane’s largest not-for-profit credit union, and the largest builder and provider of homeownership opportunities for low-income families, we urge Spokane County commissioners to seize this opportunity. If commissioners fail to act by Sept. 30, then the Spokane City Council should lead, as provided by HB 1590.
No one likes raising taxes, even when it’s only an additional penny on a $10 purchase.
Yet this small financial commitment is a community investment in immediate needs, paying dividends for generations to come.
Michelle Girardot is the chief executive officer of Habitat for Humanity. Her email address is mgirardot@habitat-spokane.org. Ezra Eckhardt is chief executive officer and president of the Spokane Teachers Credit Union. His email address is ezrae@stcu.org