Housing is a human right

According to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, the apartment vacancy rate for the Olympia area in August of 2016 was 2.6 percent and has since shrunk further. A healthy vacancy rate ranges between 6 and 7 percent, making the Olympia rental market extremely tight. The lack of rental housing means many Olympians struggle to find an affordable place to live, especially someone trying to pull themselves, and their families, out of poverty and off the streets.

The Olympia Home Fund is one way to alleviate this problem. It will create hundreds of new affordable housing units with crucial support services for those who need it most. I assisted with a similar housing initiative in Bellingham and saw vulnerable citizens moved off the streets and into their own homes. Now I’m pleased to see my beloved hometown of Olympia working toward a similar solution that’s effectiveness is proven.

When those who are experiencing homelessness have a safe place to live, expensive taxpayer costs from emergency room visits, ambulance trips, and other crisis response interventions decline. If this isn’t enough reason to support a healthier, safer community, then it’s time to dig deeper:

“An individual has not started living until he can rise above the narrow confines of his individualistic concerns to the broader concerns of all humanity”. – Martin Luther King, Jr.

Olympians cannot wait any longer to take care of their own. Please join me in voting yes for the Home Fund in the February election!

This story was originally published January 18, 2018 at 3:37 PM with the headline "Housing is a human right."