During a recent visit to Everett, Sen. Patty Murray decried what she called the “quiet crisis” of housing in the Puget Sound area. Murray recounted her own experiences as she spoke to more than 100 community leaders about federal efforts to make housing affordable and available for low income families.
Much of that help, however, will fall short without an effort to address the overwhelming problem in today’s market: a lack of available inventory for the vast majority of middle income buyers, and especially modest income buyers.
For more than a year the Puget Sound market has had less than a two- to three-month supply of housing available for purchase, according to the Northwest Multiple Listing Service. Most housing markets require at least a six-month supply to maintain price equilibrium. Without that equality of supply and demand, prices escalate rapidly as more buyers chase fewer homes.
This crisis of inventory is due in large part to restrictions on growth imposed by state law. That is not to say that growth management can’t work. It can, but only if it genuinely addresses competing and conflicting factors in the marketplace.
Consultant Michael Luis has identified one of the biggest problems as a lack of a united constituency for housing. Those who own houses would prefer that no more be built in their neighborhood. City officials, who are hard pressed to provide services for new homes, would just as soon see land used for industrial and commercial development, a much more lucrative tax base. Cities want more revenue, not complaints about more houses, cars and crowded schools. Luis outlined some of the solutions available to local elected officials at a recent forum in south Snohomish County, but sympathized with their dilemma.
It’s hard to fault local officials when public attitudes weigh largely against more housing in existing neighborhoods. In a recent poll commissioned by the real estate and building industry in Snohomish County, concerns about growth and traffic outweighed issues such as employment, the economy and crime by a wide margin. In past years, those results have been just the opposite. So it’s not surprising to see the city of Mukilteo propose a moratorium on producing smaller, more affordable cottage style housing because of neighborhood objections. Growth can never be good if it’s near me.
The sad part of this scenario is that the tremendous economic and social benefit of privately owned housing goes largely unnoticed and unappreciated. Housing fully accounts for 16 percent of our gross domestic product. Since 2001, the boom in real estate sales and the use by consumers of the equity in their homes for additional purchases has carried the U.S. economy. Even more beneficial are the numerous social improvements attributable to home ownership. In its report on the nation’s housing titled “Social Benefits of Home Ownership and Stable Housing,” the National Association of Realtors details the impact of home ownership on social stability, educational achievement, civic participation, health and the ability to pay for health care, lowering crime rates and decreased participation in public assistance.
So what’s the solution? Everyone, and that includes your neighbor who complains about the new construction down the street, needs to appreciate housing for what it is and does. It is a job attracter and creator, a revenue raiser and a social benefactor. The next time you see a new home go up, see it as another job boosting the economy, another wage earner supporting Social Security, and another family making our community a great place to live.
Dave Miles is president of the Snohomish County-Camano Association of Realtors and a sales associate with Windermere MH Real Estate in Everett.
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