No response as of October 14 - we will post late responses within one business day of receiving them.

No response as of October 14 - we will post late responses within one business day of receiving them.

I do not agree. We have seen the inventory in our area triple in the last year, and prices have increased 5%. Our developers are building mansions on view lots - those are never going to meet the criteria for "affordable."

No response as of October 14 - we will post late responses within one business day of receiving them.

No. At some time we will run out of space and there will still be people to house. Parts of Los Angeles grew itself right into slums and crime by extending itself beyond what it was capable of adequately caring for.

I think we can look to areas with rapid growth, such as the Seattle area, or California's urban areas, to see that it's not a question of too little supply. Rapid growth made those areas less, not more affordable.

Unfortunately, the affordable housing shortage is more complex than a simple supply-demand equation. We don't have a housing shortage in Bellingham and Whatcom County. We have an AFFORDABLE housing shortage. The causes of this are complex, and effective solutions will be multifaceted. We must make full use of the tools that the City of Bellingham has at its disposal to make a difference in the housing market. These are a few that a Pike administration will push to make happen: - Utilizing recently passed tools by the state legislature and advocating for more, I will take steps to protect the well maintained trailer parks within the city limits so we don't face the prospects of hundreds of our fellow residents being faced with homelessness when their park gets sold and redeveloped. - I will expand the City's partnership with the Kulshan Community Land Trust to increase the local volume of Trust-maintained properties that allow first-time home buyers to access the market, and build equity in the structure on the property, while the Trust holds the land in perpetuity for other low to moderate-income households of the future. - I will negotiate and push for more tax credit properties in private developments, so that housing being produced by developers has a reasonable portion of the units available to individuals and families with limited financial means. - I will lead appropriate city officials, and both nonprofit and for-profit community partners to examine, and where feasible, replicate successful affordable housing development strategies from around the nation and Canada. - I will travel to Washington, DC and work extensively with our congressional delegation to see that the federal government steps up to the plate adequately with HUD Section 8 rental vouchers for low-income people in our community. Vouchers not only create access to the housing market; they help private landlords keep their inventory full during periods when home buying reduces the rental census. - I support the well-developed "Housing First" model being championed by our dedicated agencies who fight homelessness. I want Bellingham to be a leader in this philosophy of getting people out of shelters and off the streets. - And, finally, I believe that any housing developed in the proposed waterfront development must include mixed housing , not just $750,000 condos. I will work to make sure that happens.

I lived in a town with a 20-year growth moratorium. Housing prices escalated at the same rate as towns in the region with rampant growth. I have seen first hand that a growth solution is a dangerous urban myth. What is needed is smart, managed growth focusing on appropriately-sized infill units with government and neighborhood streamlining and buying-in to this approach. Nature teaches us all of the time what "limits to growth" mean. Supply side only is not sustainable and creates more serious problems down the road.

No, supply is not the problem, it is the affordability issue. This means livable wage jobs, reasonable health care, fair taxes, lower cost basic needs, (etc.), each of us needs. We are driven by the ever increasing cost needed to live and our wages are not keeping up so that housing remains affordable.

Supply will take care of itself - but we must have the stable incomes to afford housing. It is on this economic stability that we must focus, and he housing market will come into balance.

NO - I think this is a dangerous assumption that our housing market will change to move the median price to an affordable level for our employment market. We will continue to see people (retirees or those independent from our local labor force and economy) from out of the region purchasing properties.

Supply and demand influence market pricing in more than just the housing market. That said, I don't believe that supply alone will affect the price of housing dramatically enough to classify us as "out of the housing price problem." Prices are affected by zoning regulations, allowable density per acre, legal costs, impact studies and impact fees, etc. Greater supply may have some impact on the price of housing, but I don't see it as the only solution.

I don't believe we can grow our way out. If the economy tanks, housing and property values could decline but economic setbacks usually hit low income people the hardest, as they have little or no financial cushion to fall back on. The only way I see growth being a benefit would be subsidizing the property's high value and convincing builders to build smaller, low profit houses on small lots. I don't think the builder should give up profit. We would have to be sure the customer would be willing to buy these low cost houses.

Supply is only one part of the problem and increasing supply will help but it will not solve the problem. We need to approach the issue with an attitude for reform, to change the current gauntlet of regulations into one of efficient service delivery for the clients. We need to be creative in soliciting capital into a trust fund specifically for building affordable housing. We need to open our minds to alternative housing styles that are proven to be efficient, well designed, and functional for our working families. We need to provide leadership for design solutions that fit into existing neighborhood character and are accepted in the market.

My experience as a 30 year professional urban planner, a builder/business owner for 16 years and my accreditation in banking finance provide the skills needed on the City Council at this time.

No I don't think we can grow our way out of the housing price problem unless we sprawl to such an extent that our quality of life deteriorates to such an extent that people no longer find this such a great place to live. We have seen a huge increase in new houses come on the market over the last few years and all that has happened is prices accelerating. Increasing the land supply does not necessarily translate into a cost saving to the potential buyer

Bellingham has been discovered Š and everyone wants to move here. In a growing city, the price of housing generally goes up. People are also moving here from Seattle, etc. because our housing is less expensive than it is there.

The affordability of housing in Bellingham is partially tied to the supply. However, part of the problem is BellinghamÕs current building codes which do not encourage housing to be built in our mixed use centers. Instead, we have many areas which have large underutilized parking lots interspersed with one story buildings.

Bellingham has a large capacity for housing in the city in our commercial areas which we have just started to tap. Placing housing in these areas also makes for livable, walkable neighborhoods, saves farmland, reduces sprawl, and reduces pollution.

Portland, Seattle, San Francisco and other model cities have learned how to have housing in mixed use projects. Bellingham can accomplish this too.

From what I have learned, it is fair to conclude that demand and desirability have far greater influence over housing prices than does supply. Moreover, periods of economic growth and expansion are typically accompanied by rising, not falling, housing prices. (We have seen as much locally.) In other words, growth often contributes to the problem, not the solution.

On a related note, a study in California found that inclusionary zoning programs were not associated in a decline in housing production, but actually with an increase. The reason, it seems, is that inclusionary zoning measures were more commonly adopted in areas experiencing growth and the rapid rise in housing values that typically accompanies growth. In other words, rather than constricting supply, inclusionary zoning had a negligible effect of market-rate (demand-driven) housing production.

No response as of October 14 - we will post late responses within one business day of receiving them.

No response as of October 14 - we will post late responses within one business day of receiving them.