The Olympian

Panel sees local housing ‘crisis’

Members agree on problem but differ on solutions

By Matt Batcheldor | The Olympian • Published June 01, 2007

OLYMPIA — Seven panelists at a forum Thursday night agreed that there isn’t enough affordable housing but differed about the different solutions.

The panel was in a packed City Council chambers at Olympia City Hall.

Nick Federici of the Washington Low Income Housing Alliance said it will take money, political will to prioritize funding, and policies that make it easier for people to keep housing.

“We are worse than just treading water,” he said of keeping a good stock of affordable housing. “We have losses.”

Olympia Master Builders President Mark Shaffer said impact fees that governments tack on to housing prices are making houses more unaffordable, adding more than $18,000 to the price of a home.

“Our belief is that the fees themselves are more of an impediment to buyers than a benefit to governments,” he said.

The forum was organized by nine students in a class at The Evergreen State College called The American Dream.

“We were interested in this particular topic because we recognize its importance locally and nationally,” Elizabeth Van Dyke, a senior at Evergreen, said in an interview. “We’re kind of hoping this can start future discussion on those particular aspects of affordable housing.”

Speakers gave their own sets of statistics to support their arguments. The common ground was this: housing prices in Olympia have risen much faster than incomes.

“It’s a crisis,” said Mark Kitabayashi of the Olympia- Thurston County Association of Realtors. “We do believe that as well.”

He cited statistics that showed average house prices jumped from $163,500 in 2001 to $290,800 in 2007.

Curt Andino of Habitat for Humanity said the organization is building as many houses as possible, but it isn’t keeping up with need. He suggested that governments could forgive government fees on Habitat projects to allow it to build more.

‘American dream’

Audience members asked questions of the panel for more than an hour.

One of them, Jim Lazar of Olympia, said that Americans need to reduce their expectations of “the American Dream.” He responded to statistics that Americans are building bigger homes while fewer can afford them.

“I think we’ve got to get the American Dream under control,” he said. “We’ve created a culture that tells people to expect a 2,400-square-foot home as the American Dream.”

Anna Schlecht, the city’s housing program specialist, said the city is very interested in affordable housing.

“We hope that there is some entity or groups or individuals to continue this conversation,” she said.

Matt Batcheldor covers the city of Olympia for The Olympian. He can be reached at 360-704-6869 or mbatcheldor@theolympian.com.