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Action needed now
to stem housing crisis

In the closing days of the 2005 legislative session, it is essential that legislators enact a law that will actually get affordable housing built. Current laws have created the affordable housing crisis we face today.

Last year more than 100 community experts in the housing field were asked by the Legislature to come up with solutions to the affordable housing shortage. The list of participants read like a "who's who" of leaders in the affordable housing community. The solutions they developed are the proposals now being criticized by the Star-Bulletin in its April 21 editorial. What is most ironic is that the Star-Bulletin and the Affordable Housing Task Force share the same goal -- to get housing built for lower-income families.

What does it take to reach this goal? As the task force members so clearly stated, it takes three things: a faster approval process to construct housing, financial incentives to construct low-income housing, and a broader range of definitions so that more families can qualify and actually get homes.

We agree with the Star-Bulletin that priority should go to those families with lower incomes. However, Housing Economics 101 says that builders must be allowed to build homes in a wide range of price levels such that the market-priced houses subsidize the lower-priced units. Setting the threshold of 140 percent of the state median income that allows a household with two teachers to qualify for an affordable home ($92,000 per year) will not only help more families but allow developers more financial flexibility. A lower percentage will effectively shut down the market and prevent builders from being able to finance projects -- the situation we are in today.

We concur that the excise tax exemptions should go to projects that provide the largest percentage of affordable units. And because the housing crisis is now, these tax credits should be targeted for those organizations, including nonprofit builders, who can get housing built right away.

The Star-Bulletin favors raising the conveyance tax to help build affordable rentals. The truth is, you do not need to raise taxes. The Legislature only needs to increase the percentage of that tax dedicated to affordable housing. Raising the conveyance tax that applies to purchasing a home only increases the price of that home -- a step in the wrong direction.

Finally, the task force's recommendation to streamline the process for constructing affordable housing is essential to success. This recommendation also isn't new. Act 15, passed in 1988, removed county approvals from the affordable housing development process for five years and resulted in several significant projects being built. In 1992 a Streamlining Task Force made the same recommendations to eliminate duplicate reviews that delay for two or three years the construction of affordable homes. Currently, the state Land Use Commission conducts a 25-point review of proposed projects. The county review covers 23 of those same issues and adds 13 more conditions before a housing project can be started. Eliminating the double layer of delays will not hurt the environment or any cultural resources -- but it may mean more citizens have a roof over their heads.

The shortage of affordable housing affects all of us -- from working couples starting a new family to senior citizens on fixed incomes to graduate students who are struggling to balance tuition with rent and other expenses.

The Legislature should listen to the recommendations of the Affordable Housing Task Force it established and the community. There is no better time to act than now.

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