By CHRIS SZALA and LESLIE BROWN
Vashon’s first foray into the countywide tally of homeless people last month might suggest to some that we don’t have a problem with safe and affordable housing on the island. If only that were true.
The count, an important effort to capture the number of those who are truly homeless, has tight and narrow parameters: Volunteers are allowed to tally only those who are living in the woods, in cars or in unheated trailers or shacks — a difficult effort to undertake on rural Vashon. Ten were counted on that rainy night in January. Advocates close to the situation believe the number of “truly homeless” on Vashon is likely around 40.
But this is far from the whole picture. What didn’t get measured was what we in the affordable housing movement call “housing insecurity” — people who are one paycheck away from losing their home, women who need to get out of a violent situation, families crowded into tiny apartments, people foregoing medications or even food so they can make their monthly rent.
The fact is, other numbers tell a different story, illustrating what many of us who have looked into housing on Vashon intuitively know: Housing is expensive on the island, and many of our friends and neighbors struggle to find safe and decent housing that they can afford.
Consider, for instance, the annual income of someone working at minimum wage. That person might gross $19,600 a year or net around $17,100 (assuming he or she were able to work and/or get paid for all 52 weeks of the year). Now assume this person got lucky and found a one-bedroom for $1,000 a month. Our island tenant would spend $12,000 a year on rent, leaving $428 a month for all other expenses (food, utilities, car insurance, gas, clothing, medical needs and more).
Another way to understand the extent of the need is to look at the length of the waiting lists at the four affordable housing projects owned by Vashon HouseHold, a nonprofit developer of affordable housing.
At Eernisse Apartments, a family-oriented complex, more than 100 people are waiting for a unit to open up. At Mukai Commons, where support services are provided, the waiting list is 81 people long. Another 81 individuals are hoping for a home at Charter House, a small apartment building for people with disabilities, and 76 are in line at JG Commons, a complex for senior citizens.
Vashon is a wonderful place to live, an island rich in community life and impressive in the way we work together to take care of our own. A monthly dental van, run almost solely by volunteers, provides critical dental care to people who have no insurance coverage. A meals program, staffed by more than 600 volunteers, ensures that everyone who wants one can get a decent meal every day. Vashon’s robust food bank supplied more than 250 families with Thanksgiving meals last year.
But as those waiting lists at Vashon HouseHold’s four projects suggest, affordable housing remains elusive to many. And a decent supply of affordable homes and apartment units is vital not only for those in need. It also adds stability and diversity to our community, a bulwark against the boom-bust housing cycles that can tear at a community’s fabric.
What can we, as islanders, do to help address this need? One very tangible effort currently under way is to convince the Legislature to fully fund the state’s Housing Trust Fund, created in 1986 in response to the Reagan administration’s decision to decrease federal support of low-income housing. The trust fund’s allocation from the state capital budget has declined considerably in recent years, from a high of $191 million during the 2007-09 biennium to $69.5 million in the last biennium. (To learn more, visit the Washington Low Income Housing Alliance’s website at www.wliha.org.)
We’re lucky that Vashon doesn’t have large numbers of people who are truly homeless. But we shouldn’t let this blind us to a real and persistent need we face on our island. Many struggle to find decent, affordable homes. Only community support and an abiding commitment to the issue will enable us to address this fundamental need and basic human right.
— Chris Szala is the executive director of Vashon HouseHold. Leslie Brown is a board member.
