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 agree that higher-wage job creation is a vital component to the housing affordability solution. People can qualify for conventional loans at better rates when they have a proven income stream and can afford to make the payments. We need more living-wage jobs and we need to support our business community.

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

Of course. That is motherhood and apple pie. Again, the devil is in the details. We need to create incentives for good paying jobs to locate here. Right now all I hear are complaints from companies wanting to locate here. County government is mandated by the Growth Management Act to be a provider of rural services. Most good paying companies need to locate in urban areas where there is adequate infrastructure and other amenities that we cannot provide in most of the unincorporated areas. I think of the problems Aluminum Chambered Boats is facing trying to expand here. There seems to be a disconnect on the part of some decision makers in assisting companies that provide higher wage and clean jobs. Also there are people who are mentally and physically incapable of working, no matter what the wage. They are among the most in need of affordable housing, a decent roof over their heads!

No. In fact, large numbers of higher wage jobs will in all likelihood create an even larger affordability gap. It's critical that we provide housing that is affordable and available for all sectors of our economy.

Bringing higher wage jobs into the community certainly has benefits. But it will do nothing to resolve the affordability gap for those who will not have those higher wage jobs. As we benefit from successful economic development we need to pay attention to the very significant portion of the population that may find the price of homes out of reach.

Every election year politicians promise to bring family wage jobs to town. This year the twist is that it will make houses more affordable. While it is true that higher wage jobs enable those workers to afford a more expensive home, other communities have seen that recruiting businesses to relocate to their area from elsewhere has made housing less, not more affordable. Housing demands and prices rise and we then have a larger pool of people in service jobs, unable to afford the increasingly expensive homes. It's important to remember that a significant portion of the population, including critical workers like public school teachers, will not be able to afford housing as prices rise.

I experienced this firsthand in the 1980's as a full-time math and science teacher working in a community with a serious affordable housing problem. Home ownership for my family was completely out of the question. So we moved back to Bellingham for me to attend graduate school and, as a graduate student, bought the house we live in today. I don't want to see Bellingham lose teachers and other critical professionals to more affordable communities.

Housing affordability is a complex issue. With wages moving backwards in real dollar terms for Bellingham residents since the year 2000--while home prices have been skyrocketing--clearly higher wages, while an important component of affordability, are only part of the solution. There is also a need to encourage a broader range of housing types to be brought to market, so that meaningful entry-level opportunities exist. Some of these solutions are of necessity regulatory. Under the status quo, developers get the highest return on higher end homes, so if we want more affordable housing, part of the solution requires that we provide incentives--which are not necessarily financial--to ensure the appropriate mix of housing is developed. We also need ongoing, dedicated revenue streams to help address the problem. I will make this a priority of my administration. For more of my thinking on these issues, please go to : http://www.pikeformayor.com/pages/housing.aspx

Higher wage jobs are only part of the answer and only help those who are fortunate enough to secure one of them. Yes, it will take the edge off the problem, but this approach is a difficult battle to win when reports of region-wide (multi-state) troubles with living wages exist. I am supportive of doing our best to attract better wage jobs and to encourage current local employers to pay more, but it would be naive to think this is a silver bullet to the affordable housing crisis - it is part of a solution.

Again, this is only part of the scenario. Yes we must have higher wage, stable jobs...which in return will increase our growth, driving up the prices. There must be a balance in how we manage the cost of affordable housing.

"Many local jurisdictions are adopting codes that promote affordable housing. In many cases, cities and counties are offering bonus densities, fee waivers, streamlined review processes or other incentives to encourage affordable housing provision. ...local jurisdictions are experimenting with alternative and affordable housing types such as cottage housing, accessory dwelling units, small lot development or attached housing. Often, these codes include exemptions or provide for flexibility in applying regulations to help hold down the costs..." creating affordable housing options.

I think it is an extremely viable component to shift the balance. As I describe above, our property values have been inflated by outside economic interests. A higher median wage would start to stabilize the local economic component of our community. This would begin to offer affordable housing from the market perspective.

As mentioned above, it is one answer among several. We often use the phrase "affordable housing" as though there were some objective line on the price continuum at which a home is considered affordable. What is affordable to one family is completely unattainable to another. With that reality in mind, there is some validity to the suggestion put forth in this question. Higher paying jobs, in conjunction with lower overall construction costs, a streamlined permitting and regulating process, friendlier zoning, all combine to bring the cost of housing into the realm of affordability for greater numbers of people.

We'd all like to think a stronger economy would solve our problems and increasing wages certainly wouldn't hurt. I don't see a strong local economy as a way to solve this problem as we will always have low income folks and low income jobs that need doing. One way to get ahead for low wage earners is to have more people contribute to common housing and we have some of that already. It isn't just students that utilize a four bedroom house for eight people by sharing bedrooms and pooling resources to pay the rent. Neighbors are not often happy with this solution and, quick buck, landlords often are a contributor to this problem. Low income people are often forced to pool resources to stretch each dollar.

Our housing affordability gap has steadily grown over the past 20 years. In 1985, the cost of a lot was 20% of the cost of a new single family home. Today, the cost of a lot represents about 30% of the cost of a new single-family zone. In the past 8 years alone, the cost of impact fees, taxes, materials and other components have pushed the cost of construction higher. Meanwhile, the average wages in Bellingham used to be 92% of the average wages earned across Washington State. Today, Bellingham's averages wages are about 80% of the State average, and less than wages in Skagit County. Clearly we are heading the wrong direction.

Providing higher wage jobs is always a positive situation for working families. People want to be successful and provide for their families. We need to look beyond just providing jobs, and provide the leadership that creates career opportunities. It took a long time for our average wages to sink. But with focused leadership, we can begin to reverse this trend. We should designate an ample supply of light industrial land that can be served property with city services (roads, water, sewer, stormwater). We should partner with WWU, WCC and BTC to expand the strength of our labor pool. We should reform the City services to be responsive to businesses wanting to do business in Bellingham. If we perform these three steps, new career opportunities will result, workers will have higher paying jobs and families will be better equipped to meet their housing needs.

Developing more high wage jobs is a great goal, it would help some into housing and should be pursued but it is not the sole answer to the affordable housing crisis. We currently have many people working in jobs with good pay ranges who cannot afford to buy a home in our currant housing market. The currant living wage for a single parent with a child is around $20.00 an hour. Not a bad wage, but given today's Bellingham housing market an individual would still be hard pressed to be able to save enough for a down payment and afford payments for entry level new house costs. We also have a considerable population who are currently under educated or under trained who would have a hard time qualifying for many of the new type of jobs coming into the community without retraining.

I have worked to increase the number of livable wages jobs in Bellingham and I supported the livable wage ordinance. I also support the relationship with the Small Business Development Center, working to support our small businesses, helping them to succeed and grow.

Some of the price of housing is based on supply and demand. Some of it is based on fixed cost. Therefore, increasing wages can be a partial answer to the issue of housing affordability. However, there will still be those who lack the necessary skills to obtain a higher wage job. Some housing will likely always need to be subsidized.

Higher wage jobs will certainly solve the housing affordability problem for many people, but will only partially reshape the fundamental dynamics that have created our housing affordability problem. Housing costs have risen in large part because of the livability and desirability of our area, and because economic prosperity has allowed many individuals to pay the new, higher prices. Moreover, higher wage jobs may not benefit those individuals who are most likely to experience homelessness or housing uncertainty, because these people may lack the necessary skills or support (e.g., transportation, child care) to successfully compete for those jobs.

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.