Dozens of Vancouver residents spent Monday’s sunny afternoon at Eleanor Roosevelt Elementary School to hear from the city about housing issues and share their thoughts regarding the city’s housing crisis.
The event, which was the second of four Vancouver City Council community forums to be held this year, began with a staff presentation about the state of affordable housing in the city.
The number of new homes in Vancouver has not kept up with the city’s population growth in recent years, according to the presentation by Samantha Whitley, housing programs manager for the city of Vancouver. She said the average rent has increased 19 percent in the last five years, and that 51 percent of renters are cost burdened.
“We’re doing everything we can to address our housing needs. … The city is not going to solve all the housing all by itself, and we really love our partners and providers that are also doing the work and trying to affect our housing supply,” Whitley said.
Following the presentation, the city invited residents to sit at tables to have a discussion with a city council member or city staff member.
“I thought it went well. I thought it was informative, and it was good to hear different perspectives from different ages of people who wish they’d been here for a long time and to hear their different ideas,” Leah Jeffries, a Vancouver resident, said following the forum.
During the forum, Jeffries shared some of the challenges she and her partner will face when their family outgrows their current house, which they have lived in for nearly 15 years.
“We can’t move with interest rates as they are right now,” she told her table. Mortgage interest rates have remained high since last year, with the U.S. averaging 6.71 percent interest rates on 30-year fixed mortgages last week, according to the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation.
Some residents shared their frustrations with the housing inaccessibility for young adults with low-wage jobs, while others talked about high child care costs and other factors that affect families.
“It was a really good community forum,” City Councilor Diana Perez said. “I think having the ability to talk about anything that you want at the end was very important. That was taken away from city council meetings and limited to four times a year, which I think is tough for many folks. It’s a benefit to be here and be able to talk about these things.”
“I thought it was good that there was this much time allowed for the input that there was,” Jon Combs, who sat at Perez’s table, said. “I think it’s good to be able to be face to face with the city councilor.”
Some individuals at the forum expressed their disappointment with terms such as “affordable” and “crisis,” saying that the city should be more transparent with the language surrounding housing issues.
“If they’re gonna call it a crisis, then treat it as a crisis,” Arthur Stubbs of Vancouver said.
“I would like us to re-create that term we’re talking about,” another resident said. “If it’s affordable, then people should be able to afford it.”
The city presentation defined affordable housing as “housing that people can pay for and still have enough money left over each month to cover other expenses,” citing the Area Median Income of $114,400 to determine what portion of the city’s housing supply is affordable.
Several housing organizations, such as Second Step Housing, Evergreen Habitat for Humanity and Bridgeview Resource Center, also attended the event to provide housing resources.
The next city forum will take place Sept. 25.
