COMMUNITY COUNCIL

Community Council continues to facilitate the work of the Affordable Housing Implementation Task Force (ITF) as it advocates for the implementation of the recommendations from the Affordable Housing Study Report.

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic and economic crisis, the ITF pivoted to address immediate housing needs within our community, while at the same time continuing to work on the long-term goals established through the study. In coordination with other state and national housing advocacy groups, the ITF is paying close attention to state and federal policy issues as they related to housing within the context of the COVID crisis. The subcommittee wrote and submitted a number of letters to state and federal representatives, advocating for immediate housing relief in relation to the COVID-19 crisis, such as extensions to eviction moratoria and the establishment of emergency rental assistance to keep low-income renters stably housed during the pandemic. The ITF produced and continually updates and distributes its English-language and Spanish-language COVID-19 Housing & Utility Relief Information Sheet, which briefly explains state, federal, and regional relief measures that have been enacted in response to the pandemic to protect residents from eviction, foreclosure, and displacement.

Other highlights of the Implementation Task Force’s work include:
● Advocacy for manufactured housing park residents’ opportunity to purchase legislation in Washington State. The compilation of a packet of resources for manufactured housing park owners, informing them about the opportunity to sell to resident-owned cooperatives in the event that they want to sell their parks. The production of a report to local governments on local policies that can be adopted to help preserve manufactured housing communities and protect the residents within them.
● The development of a multi-media public awareness campaign on the benefits of affordable housing for our community. This included publishing articles in local newspapers, developing social media posts on affordable housing facts, and producing a short video on our region’s affordable housing crisis.
● The preliminary development and graphing of affordable housing measurements for our region, such as the number of affordable homes available to households per income bracket.
● Learning from multi-jurisdictional affordable housing coalitions from other regions, as the ITF considered how to form a lasting coalition that can advance affordable housing priorities in our region.

The ITF is doing the preliminary work necessary to establish our region’s first community land trust, which will be called Common Roots Housing Trust. A Community Land Trust (CLT) is a nonprofit organization that owns land and develops housing for the purpose of creating permanently affordable homes. Homes on CLT land are owned or rented by households, and the land, which is owned by the CLT, is leased to the residents for a modest fee. CLTs also provide financial services, such as counseling and access to lenders, to support their residents so as to prevent foreclosure. Common Roots Housing Trust, will acquire land on which to develop a portfolio of affordable homes to meet the specific needs of residents of our region. It will create lasting home ownership opportunities for community members who have steady incomes but cannot afford to buy safe, market-rate homes in our region. The ITF chose the name “Common Roots” for the CLT, and developed Common Roots’ mission, vision, and values statements. In the fall of 2020, Common Roots hired a nationally recognized CLT consultant to assist with market, pricing, and subsidy analysis; and develop Common Roots’ logo and website. In January 2021, the ITF hosted a virtual town hall, introducing Common Roots to the region.

We regularly engage the community in developing a community road map - reflecting on where we have been, where we are now, where we want to go and what critical ares need attention if we are to get there.