Help make the #CostOfHome something we all can afford
Today, hundreds of local Habitat organizations and advocates are in Washington, D.C. this week for the fifth and final year of the Cost of Home campaign, calling upon congressional leaders for continued policy support that will allow 10 million individuals to meet their most basic needs.
For millions more Americans, affordable housing is beyond reach. Rising interest rates and mortgage costs create barriers to homeownership and slow construction of new single-family homes during a nationwide housing shortage. Half of all U.S. renters spent more than 30% of their income on housing and 11.6 spent more than half their paycheck on rent. Here in Washington State, every 1 in 7 households pay half or more of their income on housing.
At home, in the economically distressed North Olympic Peninsula, Jefferson County ranks 38th out of 39 counties for affordability and Clallam County follows closely as the 7th least affordable county in the state, (Washington Center for Real Estate Research), while buildable land is a finite resource, and almost 48% of Port Townsend renters are cost-burdened by housing (ACS 2021; 36% of homes in PT are rentals), of which, just 0.4% are available. And 27.85% of Clallam County homes are renter-occupied with a very small percentage available.
Habitat for Humanity of East Jefferson County (Habitat EJC) built eleven homes in 2023, six of which are paired homes on Habitat-owned land, and are actively building and planning three more permanently affordable housing solutions. In Port Hadlock, a planned neighborhood awaits sewer completion to build 150 mixed single and multi-family homes for the county’s growing essential workforce in 2025.
In March 2024, Habitat for Humanity of Clallam County (HFHCC) will break ground on a 4-plex Veteran’s Build on the west side of Port Angeles, which is actively accepting applications through February 29, 2024. In Sequim, a planned 50-unit, affordable housing development, of 4-plex and duplex-style homes will break ground in 2025.
Jamie Maciejewski, Executive Director of Habitat EJC takes part in Habitat on the Hill as a workshop speaker and advocate meeting with Washington State representatives. Also, in attendance is Colleen Robinson, Executive Director of the neighboring HFHCC.
Robinson shared, “Advocacy for affordable homeownership is essential for Habitat to continue our work, Habitat for Humanity works to increase affordability by influencing policies and systems focused on supply and preservation, access to credit, zoning and land use. We work on advocacy issues at the local, state and federal level.”
Maciejewski states, “Increasing permanently affordable housing decreases the Cost of Home. In rural communities like East Jefferson County, every federal dollar invested in housing leverages significant additional state and local dollars and multiplies the number of homes built.”
Congress can respond to this need by supporting vital housing and community development programs in 2025 and through the passage of the bipartisan Neighborhood Homes Investment Act.
