Chances are you know someone in Kitsap who is struggling to find a place to live. Or perhaps you are among those unfortunate residents scanning online or keeping a lookout for “For Rent” signs on apartment buildings or in front yards.
As our series on this region’s tight housing market points out, not only is the inventory of available housing at a historically low point, competition for those units is steadily increasing monthly rental rates.
There’s no silver bullet around to solve the problem. Housing Kitsap Executive Director Stuart Grogan, whose organization works with governmental and social services organizations to find affordable housing in the county, reminds us that the reasons for the scarcity extend beyond the vagaries of the supply and demand marketplace.
The Puget Sound region is booming. Good-paying jobs are becoming available in the area’s high-tech industry, particularly in Seattle. In turn, they are luring new residents to our region, who also are seeking affordable places to live.
The demand for housing within a reasonable commute range has become acute, and this region’s affluent residents are willing to pay for higher-end homes. That has created a domino effect where affordable houses are making way for upscale apartment and condo complexes, especially in urban Seattle.
So why not build new housing? Home builders everywhere have yet to catch up with the demand following the Great Recession. As our series points out, that’s a particularly complicated and expensive process for developers who invariably pass along the increased costs of development and expensive land to consumers. It’s also a lengthy process.
Residents who are being priced out of an affordable housing market are facing daunting choices: move out of the area (to where?) or find temporary housing. Sometimes, that’s a homeless shelter. Or living in a car.
Government agencies are finally waking up to the reality that some of our residents may end up on the streets. County Commissioner Charlotte Garrido is leading a committee of regional social-services experts and government officials from the county and its cities to come up with a framework to address it. Port Orchard Mayor Rob Putaansuu also has brought together concerned individuals who meet regularly as part of an ad hoc committee looking at local concerns about homelessness. As has Poulsbo Mayor Becky Erickson.
Perhaps some answers will be found soon so that many in Kitsap can avoid having to make the decision between rent or mortgage, or food, medicine, transportation or utilities.
