Affordable Housing 2020

March 4^th  

Today’s big event was the Urban Studies Forum on Attainable Housing hosted at University of Washington, Tacoma. The forum brought together a variety of people to address the issue of attainable housing from multiple angles – even though there is still a lot to be understood about this complex problem, there are a lot of people creating strategies to try and address it. The keynote speaker from University of Illinois at Chicago talked about the importance of not just making affordable housing but keeping it affordable. She pointed out the irony in building a large number of small living spaces in the name of affordable housing, because even though these types of living spaces are great for solo individuals, studio apartments aren’t going to help those who are often the most in need of affordable housing, like families where parents make an income, just not enough to buy a typical market property. And when rent for such places is more along the lines of what a professional earns rather than a low-wage worker, such housing options aren’t actually affordable for the people they’re meant to serve. Expanding on that, she emphasized that it’s not just about making affordable housing, but keeping it that way, for those who occupy the space after.

Local government officials spoke at length about how attainable housing is being addressed in Pierce County where the cities of Tacoma and Auburn are located. They took questions and comments from local citizens and encouraged them to share their stories so that as elected officials, they could better do their jobs in serving those they represent.

In discussions titled “Learning from Others”, national affordable housing experts spoke on what housing insecurity looked like in Denver and Westminster, Colorado and Minneapolis, Minnesota and the strategies being used to address them there. In Colorado, there was an emphasis on tackling the supply side of affordable housing using zoning codes and other policies to ensure that housing is not only affordable and attainable but also stable.

I especially enjoyed the talk given by the representative from Minneapolis. Her presentation showed how race is a hugely important factor at the center of the affordable housing issue. It may be tempting to think about confining the problem to non-white neighborhoods where the income disparities are the largest and affordable housing is most in need, highlighting just how systemic the issue is. Luckily, Minneapolis is making headway through housing reforms that will bring development across the city to all neighborhoods, not just the non-white ones.

Even though the talks were very technical, the passion that all these people had for the issue was very clear. From policy makers and strategists to non-profit workers interacting with people face-to-face, they are all working towards helping people and making more affordable housing a reality, not only for their own cities but across the country, and there’s a lot of work that needs to be done. Because at the end of the day, this is an issue that affects the lives of people. The endgame is for people of all backgrounds and all situations to be able to own a home, simple as that. I never realized it before, but there are a lot of benefits that come with the capacity to own a home, and that really speaks to my own privilege. I’ve never had to worry about or see my parents worry about paying rent or choosing between rent and food. Being able to live in one place provides stability and encourages loyalty to a place, helping to grow a sense of community. Further, ownership can be empowering – knowing that something belongs to you, that you have something that you can leave behind to your loved ones is powerful. I’m grateful to have heard from so many perspectives and I’m really looking forward to continue working with Habitat for Humanity to build a place for someone to someday call home.

Jennifer Ng

March 3^rd

Today, our Affordable Housing Immersion 2020 group went to Tyler Court in Tacoma, WA to build houses with the partnership of Habitat for Humanity. Half of the group worked on assembling a house and with the time we had, they managed to put up a wall. For the other half, we first painted trims of assembled homes and then worked on the interior of a developing home by adding tiles to the bathroom wall, and some of us trimmed the tiles with a diamond and water saw. I was with the half that did not work on the house, but I hope to help with constructing the house the next time we are on site (Thursday, March 05, 2020). Weather wise, it was extremely bipolar; it was warm and sunny, then became cloudy, back to being sunny, and then sprinkled a bit (causing us to put on pause on painting) and then sunny once more. What can I say, that is the PNW weather! But majority of the time, it was extremely windy and chilly. Despite the unkind weather, I enjoyed working on a construction site and gain the experience. The purpose of collaborating with Habitat for Humanity is not to just build houses for the people who need homes, but to gain the abstract and concrete view of this social issue, get hands on experiences, and grasp a better understanding about affordable housing. For me personally, I got two things from today. The first getting to experience what it is like being a constructor. From an outsider perspective, I know that construction is a hard labor work, and from today’s experience, I respect people in this industry. The second thing I got was the sense of community and teamwork. By having various people come together to advocate, work together, and make a change, a lot can be done and can help decrease the problem to this social issue.

              After Tyler Court, we had dinner with the Tacoma Catholic Worker at Guadalupe House of Hospitality. This organization serves homeless and hungry in Tacoma, supported by volunteers, and they host dinner every Tuesday. The food comes from donations as well as time and money from the community members. When we arrived, I helped the leader of the organization, Elizabeth, in the kitchen and was fortunate to have a friendly and informative conversation at the same time. What I learned was that she has lived in Tacoma for years and was a baker before being part of this organization. I asked: what justice issues does this organization look at and whether politicians are doing their job regarding to this issue. What I got was that this organization looks at homelessness issues and advocate equity for all. For my other question, she brings up that politicians are not doing their job since instead of listening to people and their needs, they do what they think is best for the people. Hearing this, it was quite upsetting since I believe that for social change to happen, politicians must make change based on people’s needs since first off, the responsibility of a leader is to be the voice for the people and also, the people the ones who have the experience and the platform of social issues. Moreover, Elizabeth and I discussed how affordable housing and homeless is a difficult issue since there are two sides to it and no median. In other words, yes, it is upsetting to see people being houseless and coerced to move their tents, and have to compete for a space in homeless shelter, but yet, considering tourists coming, we want them to feel safe and feel welcome in which, that can be challenging when there is a lot of homeless people on the streets. To me, this issue is extremely complex since of course, there are people who needs help and works hard, but still cannot afford living under a roof. Yet, there are also others who likes to take things for granted and have everything come free to them.

              When it was about time to eat, I left the kitchen and sat on the outskirt of the dinner table since there were no more seats. What I noticed was that this organization was extremely welcoming and I adore their sense of community. Unfortunately, since I was involved in the kitchen prior to dinner and did not have a seat at the table, I was not able to converse to the older people there. However, there was this one worker who I talked to named Grace and we talked about why our immersion group is in Tacoma and where we are from. From our conversation, the thing that stood out to me was how homelessness is an under looked issue in Tacoma compared to Seattle and Portland. This caused me to wonder, what other smaller and not well-known cities have issues with affordable housing?

              Overall, today was an eye-opening and an incredible experience. I would not trade it anything else in the world. I am looking forward to continuing working on the site and grasp a better understanding on the issue of affordable housing. Furthermore, I hope to get answers to my questions such as why people cannot afford homes, what are some best solutions to reduce this problem, and how can people’s voices be heard?

Vy-An Nguyen

March 2^nd

Today was a day of education, empowerment and exercise. We arrived at Habitat for Humanity to receive an orientation for the week working on site by our Americorp volunteer Virginia. She spoke about the history of Habitat founded by Millard Fuller and since his work Habitat has served around 9 million people in 70 countries.

In Tacoma/Pierce County, they have built over 280 homes since 1985. Habitat’s main goal is to provide permanent housing affordability for individuals by partnering with families to first build the home and then provide an affordable mortgage. Something that stood out to all of us was the concept that Habitat emphasizes which is, this process of building a home, being a “hand up” not a “hand out”. Families must agree to work 200 hours of “sweat equity” working along side habitat workers and volunteers to build these beautiful homes. In addition to this, families take classes to learn about the power and responsibilities around home owning. Providing that education is a key aspect in this because having that knowledge of what it means to be a successful homeowner is so empowering.

There is quite a bit more I could say about Habitat but I think the main take away is the impact of Habitat’s work. Virginia emphasized that when individuals and families become homeowners they have sense of relief but also empowerment. Homeowners are more likely to vote. Children of homeowners are more likely to graduate from college and become homeowners themselves. Habitat has been very successful in keeping people in their housing which helps generate a community that families can depend on.

Later in the morning we had the opportunity to speak to a panel of community members in Tacoma. Daniel Murillo, the Housing Division Manager in the City of Manager, Maureen Fife the CEO of Habitat and Amanda DeShazo, who works for Tacoma Affordable Housing Consortium.

Each individual plays a different role in regards to affordable housing but they also all worked really close together when addressing this issue In Tacoma. An important takeaway from this panel was how complex this issue is and the importance of solidarity among individuals and companies working on providing more affordable housing. It isn’t on just one group of individuals or nonprofit to “solve” affordable housing.

 Another key take away from this panel was addressing the challenges of affordable housing. One of these being money. Not only is building a home very expensive but the restrictions that come with where non-profits like Habitat get the money. This is part of Daniel’s role where he works to fund a lot of the projects around affordable housing. Another challenge that comes up is the community. Both Maureen and Amanda work to advocate to encourage communities to pass housing levies that will help provide funds for housing. In addition, speaking to members of the community to ensure that the housing being built is what the community wants. Providing a vision to the community is just as important.

The last point I want to touch on is the stigma and stereotype on who is receiving this housing. There is a wide range of people who receive these services and working to break these stigmas and stereotypes is so important. I think this connects to one of our Moreau Center Commitments of Solidarity. We are all human beings who deserve a home, community and love. Maureen spoke about bringing a face to those receiving affordable housing is one way to break these stigmas and help people realize that it isn’t just one group of people that need housing affordability.

It’s very challenging to sum up an almost 2 hour panel because of the complexity of this issue but I think we all came out of the panel feeling more educated and empowered ourselves on this. I personally was very grateful for the opportunity to speak to these individuals and for them to give their time to share their knowledge on this topic.

After the panel we drove to the beautiful Point Defiance park to have lunch and go on a very refreshing and needed hike. (photos below!) We ended our day on a delicious spaghetti meal and night of reflection and games. There is an eagerness and excitement to get on site tomorrow and help build some homes!

Sophia Riccardi