Executive’s plan a good one, needed

In response to the Tuesday letter, “Affordable housing is not the answer,” I would like to add some perspective. The letter writer expresses concern over the “glut on the market driving home prices down.” While the Northwest Multiple Listing Service reports Snohomish County median home prices to have declined about 10 percent in the past year, at $307,000 they trail only San Juan and King counties in Washington. These prices and associated rent levels for even the lowest-priced houses and rents are simply unaffordable to a large number of Snohomish County households.

I hope we can agree that everyone in Snohomish County should have the opportunity to live in a safe, decent, affordable home. Tolerance of homelessness and unsanitary or unsafe housing conditions are simply unacceptable in this day and age. I agree with the letter writer that the county needs to approach the proposed credit guarantee expansion thoughtfully. The county’s loan guarantee is modeled after a successful program in King County and is carefully designed to protect the public’s interests. Each proposed loan guarantee is carefully underwritten to ensure a minimum level of risk to the county.

These publicly supported projects provide affordable housing for our county’s lowest income residents that cannot be served by the private housing market. Mortgage/bond payment defaults in these projects are extremely rare, and to my knowledge, have never occurred in Snohomish County. I applaud the county executive for proposing this greatly needed increase to the guarantee limit and believe that upon careful examination, the council members will agree.

Fred Safstrom

Everett