Housing

In August of 2022 the LWVBWC board voted to pursue a new focus area, the housing crisis, utilizing all its tools of research and education in search of a way that the League might contribute to solutions.

The League has long addressed through its positions the need for housing.    In 1988, in a position developed by the LWVBWC, it says, "LWVBWC supports the right to basic human needs and development, i.e. a decent life. We advocate access to adequate food, housing, and health care".  Similar position statements have been adopted by the state and national Leagues.

Housing and Comprehensive Planning

How to plan for and manage growth

The Healthcare Issues Team of the League of Women Voters of Bellingham & Whatcom County hosted a panel on March 31 regarding the intersection of housing issues and comprensive planning, a process that must be conducted by cities and counties every ten years.  Learn how much housing for all income levels that Bellingham and Whatcom County will need to provide to meet population growth, and what can you do to support solutions and join the conversation.
 
Lara Welker, MPH, Consultant for Aging Well Whatcom Blueprint, facilitated the discussion. Panelists include:

• Blake Lyon, Planning & Community Development Director, City of Bellingham
• Pete Nelson, Executive Director, Blaine Senior Center
• Steve Roberge, Assistant Director, Whatcom County Planning & Development Services
• Stacie Pratschner, City of Blaine Community Development Director.

Resources mentioned in the program:

• Aging Well Blueprint
• Washington State's guidance for incorporating climate change into comprehensive planning
• More on missing middle housing

For an overview of the comprehensive planning process at the local level, take a look at this slide deck, prepared for the League by Cynthia Stewart, chair of the Housing and Homelessness Affinity Group for the League of Women Voters of Washington

Housing for Older Adults and People with Disabilities

The Healthcare Issues Team of the League of Women Voters of Bellingham & Whatcom County hosted a panel on February 20th regarding the intersection of housing issues and health issues, focusing on the needs of older adults and persons with disabilities.

Lara Welker, MPH, Consultant for Aging Well Whatcom Blueprint, facilitated the discussion. Panelists include:

• Karen Burke, CEO YWCA
• Amanda McDade, Executive Director, Northwest Regional Council
• Brien Thane, Executive Director of Bellingham and Whatcom Housing Authority

They provide an overview of the housing needs of older adults and of persons with disabilities in Whatcom County and discuss the unique challenges for these two groups regarding obtaining appropriate housing. They also reported on the ways in which these problems are being addressed currently and future plans.

Brien Thane answers a question about  Housing Authority wait lists.
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Click here to view the chat and suggested links.

Housing for All 

Member Meeting 
Nov. 12, 2022

Presenters:

Blake Lyon, City of Bellingham Planning and Community Development Director

Mollie Janicki, Finance, The RJ Group, a local, family-owned residential and commercial real estate development company

Cynthia Stewart, Issue Chair, Housing and Homelessness, League of Women Voters of Washington

Resources:

Click here to view Cynthia Stewart's slide presentation.
Click here to view Blake Lyon's slide presentation.

The State of the Nation's Housing 2022
Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University

Resources

The City of Bellingham is in the process of updating its Consolidated Plan, which determines how funding will be spent on services and housing for the community's lowest income residents and those with special needs.  Your participation is welcome.

You can see all housing units by type in the city on the Bellingham's Housing Statistics Story Map. This includes new residential units permitted by year since 2000. (Scroll down in the Housing Types section until you hit the orange and yellow bar chart). If you click on Infill Housing at the top, and scroll down a little, you can also see a list of infill housing types completed, approved, and in the application process as of June 2022.

For more context on affordable housing, take a look at Housing & Human Services (arcgis.com).  If you click on Housing Projects at the top grey bar, this shows all new affordable housing projects specifically, including permanent supportive housing,  You can then click on individual dots to learn more about each project (who it serves, how big, where funding comes from, etc.)

Another helpful resource is this FAQ on the City's website:  https://cob.org/services/planning/key-housing-questions 

A January 2023 report on the statewide housing crisis produced for Challenge Seattle (an alliance of CEOs from 21 of the regions' largest employers) is The Conspicuous Crisis: Addressing Housing Affordability in Washington.   The report focuses on the lack of housing supply in the state, and offers recommendations for addressing the problem.

Listen here for an excellent 30 minute interview summarizing  how we got in this challenging situation nation wide.  

Check out the Whatcom Housing Alliance recording of an interview with housing scholar Greg Colburn discussing his recent book "Homelessness is a Housing Problem"   Using accessible statistics, the researchers test a range of conventional beliefs about what drives the prevalence of homelessness in a given city—including mental illness, drug use, poverty, weather, generosity of public assistance, and low-income mobility—and find that none explain why, for example, rates are so much higher in Seattle than in Chicago. Instead, housing market conditions, such as the cost and availability of rental housing, offer a more convincing explanation.