affordable housing

2023 Legislative Agenda

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The lack of affordable housing and affordable homeownership opportunities continues to be one of the biggest challenges facing Washington today. We’re working to make sure that housing choices are a priority in the 2023 legislature.

Habitat for Humanity Seattle-King & Kittitas Counties strongly believes in a world where EVERYBODY has access to a safe, affordable and decent place to live — and with our agendas, we’re working tirelessly to make that a reality.

End Exclusionary Zoning

Washington State has a long and sordid history with exclusionary zoning. The use of race-based restrictions and redlining maps keeps Black, Indigenous, and people of color out of neighborhoods that were predominantly White, limits the affordability of housing and restricts the amount of homes available to these marginalized groups. Habitat for Humanity Seattle-King & Kittitas Counties calls on the legislature to look to the examples of Oregon and Walla Walla and end the practice of exclusionary zoning in Washington State.

Increase Black Homeownership

The lowest homeownership rate of any racial or ethnic group in the United States is that of Black people – currently, the average Black family in Seattle is 33% less likely to own their own home than a white family. The policies in place at the local, state, and federal governments have prohibited households of color from having equal access to homeownership, mortgage financing, neighborhood development, and many other possibilities, all of which are made easily available to White households. Habitat for Humanity Seattle-King & Kittitas Counties urges the state legislature to eliminate the systematic bias that pervades American home financing, home buying, and exclusionary zoning regulations, which has kept generations of Black families from becoming homeowners.

Support Permanently Affordable Homeownership

While we drastically need more investment in affordable housing across the board, we also need to make deliberate investments in permanently affordable homeownership here in Washington State. The reality is the disparity between Washington State’s support for rental, shelter, and supportive services housing and Washington’s support for homeownership is roughly 20 to 1 in favor of rentals, shelter, and supportive services. That is a massive racial and economic equity issue, because it ensures developers build only rentals in communities of color, denying families opportunities to become homeowners and build equity. We at Habitat for Humanity Seattle-King & Kittitas Counties strongly support the creation of new avenues of support for permanently affordable homeownership, because we need long term solutions to address this crisis.

Breaking Ground at Stuart Meadows in Ellensburg

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On Thursday, September 15, 2022. Kittitas County Habitat for Humanity celebrated the Groundbreaking Ceremony for Stuart Meadows, its upcoming 18-home affordable housing neighborhood in Ellensburg.

Homeowners, Habitat staff, State representatives, and City Officials spoke about the project, what it means for our families and the community, and the need to continue to build affordable housing for Kittitas County.

“As I stood there overlooking the Stuart Mountain range dreaming of the future, I couldn’t help but feel an overwhelming sense of hope for the families of Stuart Meadows,” said Kelle Vandenberg, Area Director, Kittitas County Habitat for Humanity. “We have spent the last year and a half in permitting, planning, and collaboration, but on that Thursday, with the sun shining and blue skies, we spent our time together just celebrating.”

With the civil work well underway and the first six families selected, vertical construction is expected to begin in October and will continue throughout the seasons. The homes will be built in three phases with the first six homes to be complete by fall 2023. The entire 18 homes to be finished by fall of 2025.

There is much to do and plenty of opportunity to help build these homes.

K-LOVE LOCAL Closer Look: Seattle Habitat for Humanity

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In the spirit of ‘back to school,’ we turned to a recent interview between Habitat for Humanity Seattle-King & Kittitas Counties CEO Brett D’Antonio and Bob Dittman of K-LOVE radio to gather a few facts you might not know about the organization. Click here to listen to the full interview.

  • Fact 1 – Habitat for Humanity wasn’t started by Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter. Though the Carters are Habitat’s most famous supporters, the organization grew out of an interracial community in rural Georgia. In 1942, the families of Koinonia Farms started providing housing for each other, creating the model that later became Habitat for Humanity. And it’s been growing internationally ever since.
  • Fact 2 – Habitat doesn’t give homes away. Instead, it forms partnerships with potential homeowners who qualify for homes by demonstrating the need for safe, affordable housing; by showing they can pay a modest mortgage; and, most important, by committing to participate in a sweat equity program. That means 250 hours of working on their own or other Habitat homes with volunteers and future neighbors, or volunteering in a Habitat Store or home office. Future Habitat homeowners also attend classes on budgeting, mortgage documentation, even a budgeting class for kids. Another surprising fact — those classes are open to any family that needs to buy a home whether they’re buying through Habitat or not.
  • Fact 3 – Habitat goes beyond building homes.  Habitat SKC conducts a Critical Home Repair program to provide low-income families with important repairsso they can stay in their homes. Projects in the $15-$25,000 range like a new roof, or a new deck can be done at no up-front cost to the homeowner. Habitat’s Home Preservation Program provides minor repairs that can prevent the need for later critical repair. Habitat volunteers often work in neighborhood clusters so they can serve five or six homes in a single day. Habitat’s Aging In Place program supports individual seniors by adding needed fixes to their homes like grab bars, ramps, easier doorknobs and floors more suited to wheelchair traffic – all based on assessments from health care organizations.
  • Fact 4 – Habitat runs a Permanently Affordable Portfolio of Homes. To prevent Habitat homes from ending up on the open market, Habitat buys them back from Habitat homeowners when they move on to buy homes on their own. In those cases, Habitat facilitates home sales from one Habitat buyer to another. One of Brett’s favorite stories is of a Habitat home built on Whidbey Island by active-duty Naval staff for a single mom. She later married and got a better job, so she could buy a home on her own in her new location. Habitat sold that home to another Habitat family who moved on to better circumstances two years later and sold the house to a third Habitat family. “That’s what we’re here for,” Brett said. “I’ll always remember how one house benefited three families in a short period of time.”
  • Fact 5 – Habitat Lobbies for Affordable Housing.  Through its Cost of Home (COH) Advocacy Campaign, Habitat has spent five years working the State Legislature to pass laws that reform policies like credit or land use access, any laws that make housing more affordable in the State. This year alone, the COH group was able to get $25M added to the State’s budget for affordable home ownership along with other affordable housing measures passed with the help of activists who wrote 9,600 messages to Washington legislators.

Habitat’s mission to create affordable, safe housing for everyone takes many forms, and these five facts are just part of the story. To learn more about Habitat for Humanity SKC and the many ways in which you can get involved visit: How to Help – Habitat for Humanity Seattle-King & Kittitas Counties (habitatskc.org)