 I launched the Housing Affordability Regional Taskforce (HART) in May of 2019 to bring our partners together to improve our affordable housing supply and ensure our local governments are working collaboratively on regional solutions. Finding affordable housing has become a major challenge for many of our residents, affecting people across the income spectrum. Too many of our neighbors are being priced out of housing which is causing widespread hardships and ever-worsening traffic. Our work over the past six months has now given us a plan to make steady progress on housing needs, from the working poor to the middle class.
This week, HART released their final report after six months of work by local elected officials, community members, and experts. This report lays out a five-year action plan, including early action items for completion in 2020.
Some of our findings:
- Snohomish County will experience a 26% population growth over the next twenty years.
- While household median income has risen 18% since 2010, the cost to rent a two bedroom apartment has gone up by 50%.
- There has been a 50% to 67% decline in low-rent housing locally since 2011.
- Median land value has increased locally by 50% to 99% since 2012.
- Snohomish County is tied with King County for the highest Housing Wage in the state, meaning someone has to make just under $76,000 annually to afford a two-bedroom apartment.
Over the next several months, our partners will begin work on our early action items, including encouraging local cities to enter into cooperation agreements with our local housing authorities, fostering community conversations about density, engaging private sector stakeholders in helping find solutions to housing affordability, and more. To learn more about the work done by HART, read the final report, or view our news conference, please visit: https://snohomishcountywa.gov/5422/HART.
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