[Vision2020] Affordable Housing

Wed Oct 31 18:17:22 PDT 2007

Joe,

  While I certainly am not a trained expert, I have had extensive experience trying to find affordable housing in Moscow and worked with many others also trying to afford decent housing. 

  When I was in the ASUI Senate, one of my living groups was Family Housing. That caused me to investigate the situation because of the frequent and prevailing problems these families had trying to find adequate housing in the Moscow region. 

  I also worked with people with disabilities and could not by law work more than a few hours each week or face losing their medical care which was paramount for their survival. 

  In my own personal quest for housing, I also had trouble finding anything decent and affordable in Moscow. 

  Here is why I think finding decent housing is unaffordable in Moscow for many people;

  Income restriction. If a couple or two adults make more than $24,000 gross, combined, they do not qualify for low income housing. If they do, their rent is still usually about $500-$650 a month plus utilities. So two people making $24,000, net $20,000, must spend about $7000 on housing and utilities. Giving them only $6500 a piece to live on for the whole year, not a fun situation to be in! 

  Another encroachment is the education exclusion for low income housing. You cannot be a full time student at UI and legally live in most low income housing units. Undergraduate students taking more than 8 credits, or graduate students taking more than 6 do not qualify for most of the low income housing units in Moscow. Another person that doesn't qualify is a student trying to get his or her GED. If they are taking classes to get a GED, you cannot get into low income housing BECAUSE you are full time student. 

  Market rate based low income housing assistance is also a problem in Moscow. That is where the federal government simply discounts housing units by about 20% below the market rate. For example, a housing unit that is a two bedroom, one bath unit on the open market in Moscow would be about $625. So the rate is reduced only to about $525 a month. Still unaffordable because Moscow's housing market is so tight, you cannot get the rate to be affordable for many Moscow residents. 

  Next, you also have rent based rent. These units are limited, hard to get into, and generally places you don't want to live unless you have absolutely not other choice. 
  Unless you are on Section 8, which is hard to get into and find a place, on want to live in a tiny cramped noisy studio apartment, you are pretty much screwed out of a decent affordable housing unit in Moscow. 

  I would also like to point out, that the problem with Moscow housing is that there simply is not enough housing for the population. Moscow has one of the highest per cap. unit in the state, over 21,000 people for just 8,000 units. That drives the rent way up. 

  The people, that I think have the hardest time, are those that make between $18,000 and $24,000 a year. Because at that rate, you don't qualify for any type of government assistance, not housing, not food stamps,not medical care, and very limited  education assistance if any. $18,000-$24,000 is not enough to pay for housing, food, medical care, transportation, and other basic needs in Moscow when you have no assistance. 

  Because of rules and restrictions on low income housing, many low income housing units sit empty while many who need those housing units are not allowed in.

  My suggestion would be to either change the rules so low income housing units get filled up, or build so much housing that the prices fall from competition. 

  Best,

  Donovan

Joe Campbell <joekc at adelphia.net> wrote:
  In her recent letter to the editor, Shelley Bennett writes this about development:

"... in order to get companies to locate in Moscow, we also need affordable 
housing options and support services that make living here affordable. The 
actions of the current mayor and many members of the City Council have 
done everything they can over the course of the last few years to make sure 
we do not have affordable housing options."

I don't know much about affordable housing. What I do know, I learned from 
Aaron Ament, who is a City Council member, and Bob Stout, who served 
longer on City Council than Tom Lamar. Bob was in favor of affordable housing, 
it was a key issue in his campaign two years ago. Aaron, too, is in favor of 
affordable housing. I have little reason to believe that Lamar, or Linda Paul, 
or Evan Holmes would not be in favor of affordable housing.

I have two questions.

Is what Bennett says true? Has the council made affordable housing options worse?

Doesn't affordable housing begin at the point of development? 

I think so. I think that the developer has a lot more control over costs 
than any city council, especially if we're restricting government in the way 
that Jeff thinks we should. The difference in the cost of a single house with 
city fees vs. without them is negligible, I imagine.

But maybe there is something I'm missing.

Best, Joe

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