EDITORIAL: Affordable housing: Making a case for Vashon

For many, the phrase “affordable housing” carries with it visions of overcrowded government-funded apartments in downtrodden urban areas. But these projects that have become synonymous with the racially segregated, poverty stricken and, at times, violent neighborhoods they occupy, are only a small part of the complicated and changing picture that is affordable housing.

At the affordable housing forum last week, Vashon HouseHold’s Chris Szala explained that there are many different ways to provide affordable rental housing, from having a building that receives subsidies to pay the difference between tenants’ payments and the actual cost, to vouchers for tenants that they can take to participating landlords, to buildings that feature affordable units and regular units together and offer developers tax reductions — a model that is becoming popular in Seattle.

Vashon HouseHold’s rental projects, including Eernisse and J.G. Commons, fall into the first model, where tenants pay 30 percent of the rental price, and the rest is subsidized.

But these two properties, along with the Vashon Terrace apartment complex, are not nearly enough affordable housing for those that live and work on the island. Affordable housing in King County is taking on a whole new meaning because the software and technology boom in Seattle has caused the median income to spike. “Affordable housing” is not just for those who are homeless, down on their luck or going through a rough time. It means housing for those who work and whose wages barely add up to $45,000 — half of what the county’s median income is. More needs to be done for those who keep our local businesses going.

Emma Amiad, a longtime island real estate broker and community activist, said that the housing market and the massive gap between wages and rental prices cause a “massive turnover of businesses in town, and nobody sees it” or makes the connection between housing and this turnover.

“(Affordable housing is) not going to be bringing more people here, just giving people working here a place to live,” she said. “We’re not talking about homeless people, we’re talking about people who work at Thriftway and at the bone factory.”

The new project that is in the works for Gorsuch Road should not be something to fear or doubt. It is something that has been well thought out and will go far for those who contribute to the island’s already small economy of local businesses.