Forum to address affordable housing on Vashon

Published 11:00 am Tuesday, November 8, 2016

Vashon Household, which works to provide and preserve low and moderately priced housing on the island, will host an affordable housing forum on Monday.

Chris Szala, Vashon HouseHold’s executive director, and Mark Ellerbrook, the manager of King County Regional Housing and Community Development, will facilitate.

The forum, cosponsored and recorded by Voice of Vashon, will be a time for islanders to talk about the myths and realities of affordable housing on Vashon, Szala said. Anyone who is interested in the affordable housing is welcome.

“We want to find out what ideas are out there and have an honest conversation,” he said.

The forum will begin with Szala and Ellerbook talking about affordable housing, how the government defines it, how the public might see it and how people qualify for it. They will also talk about the needs they have found working in the field, including information they have heard anecdotally.

Szala noted that there are constraints regarding what kinds of projects are funded, as well as how they are funded, and new ways of thinking about affordable housing are needed.

The subject of affordable housing on Vashon has also surfaced recently as part of the Community Service Area Plan, currently being developed. The plan will be included in King County’s Comprehensive Plan and will help guide development on the island for the next two decades.

Szala, who is part of that process as well, said he will talk about some of the topics that have arisen through it that might make a difference in the cost of island housing, such as the creation of more accessory dwelling units and zoning that allows for more density in certain areas.

He noted the problem is not just the lack of housing for people with very low incomes, but those with moderately low incomes as well, who cannot afford the market rate rentals of $1,300 to $1,400 per month and higher.

“We are missing the $700 to $800 per month housing that used to exist,” he said.

He indicated the future of affordable housing will affect Vashon’s demographics, and it is time for the public to address the issue.

“As an island, we have to make some pretty big decisions,” he said, noting in particular the possibility of building larger units. “Is that something we would accept? If not, there will not be much affordable housing and will mean a different trajectory of what the island will be.”

The forum will meet from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Monday, Nov. 14, at the Penny Farcy building on Bank Road.

For more information about the forum, contact Chris@vashonhousehold.org.