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THE DAILY ASTORIAN • MONDAY, OCTOBER 24, 2016
Housing Crunch: ‘It’s not going to go away’
Continued from Page 1A
In the improved economy, Asto-
ria, Seaside and Cannon Beach
aggressively marketed themselves
as tourist destinations, inviting vis-
itors to take another look at the
North Coast.
But the problem with more
people visiting, and observing the
quality of life, is that more people
want to stay.
“It’s a beautiful place to live —
that’s the reason people want to
live here,” said Scott Lee, chair-
man of the Clatsop County Board
of Commissioners, who also leads
the board of the Northwest Oregon
Housing Authority.
Attractive locale
Clatsop County, while expen-
sive for many locals, can be a inan-
cial safety valve for people priced
out of urban areas, such as Portland
and Seattle, where the cost of living
has skyrocketed.
With the region becoming
known as an attractive locale to
vacation or relocate, property val-
ues have risen, along with rents and
home prices.
Even with historically low mort-
gage rates and a revived labor mar-
ket — two conditions that encour-
age buyers — fewer sellers are
entering the market.
“So despite buyer enthusiasm,
the number of properties for sale is
dwindling,” Debbie Morrow, exec-
utive oficer at the Clatsop Associ-
ation of Realtors, said in an email.
Homeowners looking to sell
may not be able to do so because
inding another home is dificult.
This has given rise to “supply grid-
lock,” Morrow said.
In late September, Clatsop
County had two months of inven-
tory in the $150,000 to $200,000
range, two months of inventory in
the $200,000 to $250,000 range,
and four months of inventory in
the $250,000 to $300,000 range,
according to igures compiled by
Pam Ackley, who serves on the
Warrenton City Commission and
is a real-estate broker with Winder-
mere Stellar.
“Most of the county is in a sell-
er’s market now,” Ackley said.
Above $300,000, the county’s
housing market is more likely to
be in a buyer’s market — that is,
beyond that price point, the mar-
ket often has more than six months’
worth of inventory (a igure cal-
culated by dividing the number of
houses sold in the last year by 12,
then dividing the number of active
listings by that quotient).
For apartments, there are
few listings below the $825- to
$950-a-month range and an overall
paucity of options that can compli-
cate economic mobility.
Subsidies not enough
The housing crunch can be espe-
cially frustrating for people who
qualify for subsidized housing.
Northwest Oregon Housing
Authority — a nonproit agency
that works with low-income fam-
ilies and individuals in Clatsop,
Columbia and Tillamook coun-
ties — administers housing-choice
vouchers that allow applicants to
rent from private landlords.
Last year, the agency paid rental
assistance for 345 families in Clat-
sop County through the voucher
program — $1.6 million in rent
payments directly to private land-
lords, according to Todd Johnston,
the housing authority’s executive
director.
However, many people with
vouchers are having trouble locat-
ing rental units.
“They’re ending up returning
those vouchers and not being able
to use them,” Johnston said.
The number of families return-
ing housing vouchers because they
were unable to ind a rental has
increased from roughly 7 percent
to 11 percent in each of the three
counties in the past ive years,
according to agency igures. The
waitlist for a voucher has reached
two years.
Dificult to build
The logical move, it would
seem, is simply to build more hous-
ing units in all categories, which
could help drive down prices.
But advocates for this strategy
confront a host of dificulties.
For one thing, local com-
munities, in varying degrees,
have a scarcity of land that is
development-ready.
In Astoria, for example, “you’ve
got a city that’s pretty much already
built out,” Community Develop-
ment Director Kevin Cronin said.
The city has few vacant parcels,
most of which are tied up in owner-
ship issues, or come with a check-
list of formidable geotechnical
challenges, like steep slopes or bar-
riers to outside access. When costs
Danny Miller/The Daily Astorian
The city of Astoria as seen from the air in July. Clatsop County’s housing shortage has no easy solutions with a lack of buildable space and
community opposition to changing the character of the towns and cities. The dearth of housing is also felt at every rung of the employment ladder.
Clatsop County
census and
housing data
101
PACIFIC
103
Long
Beach
4
401
Warrenton
WAHKIAKUM
Wash.
Ore.
Astoria
30
202
Seaside
26
Cannon
Beach
N
CLATSOP
TILLAMOOK
101
Source: U.S. Census Bureau
are accounted for — from acquir-
ing the land to hooking up utilities
— developers often realize a proj-
ect does not pencil out.
And, though rents are ris-
ing, they have not hit a level that
is likely to incentivize much new
construction, Cronin said.
Vocal opposition
Development projects that could
help ease the housing crunch regu-
larly encounter vocal opposition.
In one recent example, neigh-
bors opposed a 48-unit apartment
complex in Miles Crossing west
of Astoria because, among other
objections, they were concerned
with trafic impacts and whether
the area had enough water and
sewer capacity.
Richard Krueger, the devel-
oper behind the project, initially
appealed a denial by the Clat-
sop County Planning Commission
before he decided to withdraw.
Opponents of Miles Crossing
encountered the pejorative label
“NIMBY” (Not In My Backyard),
but at least one of them, William
Cook, called that characterization
“totally baseless.”
The opposition, he said, “had
nothing to do with ‘Not In My
Backyard.’ It had everything to do
with the ability to support a devel-
opment like this.”
Cook, who lives less than a mile
from the proposed development,
said, “I think that any kind of com-
plex like this should be sited in an
area where foot trafic allows peo-
ple to access their primary needs
— groceries, health care, trans-
portation, recreation — especially
when you’re talking about a com-
plex that’ll house children.”
Many business and civic leaders
supported the project because of
the lack of affordable rentals. The
apartments would have been built
on 10.4 acres between Lewis and
Clark Elementary School and the
Lewis and Clark Golf & RV Resort.
Krueger, who has also tried to
get a housing project built at the old
Central School property in Asto-
ria, said a number of residents are
“anti-growth” and present obsta-
cles to housing development.
Growth limits
One possible solution in some
Item
Population, 2015 est.
Population, 2010 est.
Population per square mile (2010)
Land area in square miles (2010)
Under age 18, 2015
Under age 18, 2010
65 years and over, 2015
65 years and over, 2010
High school graduate or higher, age 25 or older*
Bachelor’s degree or higher, age 25 or older*
In civilian labor force, age 16 or older*
Median household income (2014 dollars)*
Housing units, 2015
Housing units, 2010
Owner-occupied housing units*
Median value, owner-occupied housing units*
Median selected monthly mortgage costs*
Median gross rent*
Building permits, 2015
*2010-14
cities is to expand the urban growth
boundary, a land use planning line
to restrict sprawl. Warrenton and
Seaside have discussed expan-
sions, though no oficial progress
has been made.
In Astoria, the urban growth
boundary is one of the “third rails”
of local politics, Cronin said.
Because Astoria is surrounded
by water on three sides, moving the
boundary would mean encroach-
ing on farmland and forest the city
uses to help fund capital improve-
ments. The town’s hinterlands also
provide habitat for ish and other
wildlife.
Cronin said that expanding the
urban growth boundary is “not
something we’re prepared to do
here in Astoria.”
The trade-off is that the city
will have to develop within exist-
ing limits.
“Astoria has to igure out how
to encourage that without going
through pitched battles each and
every time that you want to do a
project,” Cronin said.
Unwilling to grow outward,
Astoria may have to live with a
compact urban core. And a tight
urban growth boundary may force
development on vacant parcels, and
generate more interest in rehabili-
tating vacant homes and underused
property.
“There needs to be some sort of
consensus in the community about
what is most important, and if
housing truly is an important issue,
and that we’re trying to solve it,
we’re going to have to be accepting
of seeing new development, or at
least trying to ind ways to encour-
age reuse of existing buildings,”
Cronin said.
A side effect of success
In a certain light, the housing
crunch might be viewed as a pos-
itive sign — a side effect of eco-
nomic growth. But the crunch also
constrains that growth, several
experts believe.
The dearth of housing is felt
at every rung of the employment
ladder — from small retail opera-
tions to midlevel breweries to large
health care agencies — aggravat-
ing, and limiting, the workforce.
“Our staff is certainly affected
by this,” Jennifer Cameron-Lattek
Clatsop
37,831
37,037
44.7
829
19.6%
20.5%
20.0%
16.6%
90.9%
23.6%
60.3%
$47,337
21,928
21,546
62.7%
$248,300
$1,526
$825
208
Oregon
4.03 million
3.83 million
39.9
95,988
21.4%
22.6%
16.4%
13.9%
89.5%
30.1%
62.4%
$50,521
1.72 million
1.68 million
61.5%
$234,100
$1,591
$894
17,510
Alan Kenaga/EO Media Group
of Street 14 Cafe said. “We often
hear that they’re having problems
inding housing they can afford.”
Kevin Campbell, the CEO of
Greater Oregon Behavioral Health
Inc., told county commissioners
over the summer that it has been
dificult recruiting mental health
professionals to help rebuild Clat-
sop Behavioral Healthcare.
“I can recruit people, but if they
don’t have a place to live, they’re
not going to stay,” he said.
Jim Knight, the Port of Astoria’s
executive director, said the insufi-
cient housing opportunities have
become a hindrance to recruiting
talented employees at the Port.
The situation has hit a point, he
said, where, before a potential hire
has gotten very far in an interview,
the housing issue comes up.
Speaking of the county at large,
Knight said, “Housing, right now,
is probably one of the most import-
ant concerns that we’ve got to
wrestle with.”
Cronin said that, whether a busi-
ness wants to attract millennials or
experienced professionals, “if you
have new employees that you’re
trying to hire, and you are trying
to provide a competitive advan-
tage, and they have other offers out
there, you want to be able to pro-
vide them the housing options that
they need.”
Kevin Leahy, executive direc-
tor of Clatsop Economic Develop-
ment Resources, said, “If we can’t
get more housing units and rental
units online in the market here, it’s
going to dramatically impact our
economy.”
Some improvement
There are some indications the
situation may be improving.
Sean Fitzpatrick, who serves on
the Astoria Planning Commission
and owns the Illahee and Frank-
lin apartment complexes with his
wife, said rental prospects were
bleak last year.
“Starting in January of 2015,
our phones rang constantly with
people desperately looking for
housing,” he wrote in an email.
“We had waiting lists for every
unit that became available.”
That is not the case this year:
“Every unit I turn over inds a
tenant. Every tenant looking has
Danny Miller/The Daily Astorian
Kevin Leahy poses for a portrait
in his Clatsop Economic Develop-
ment Resources office in Seaside.
‘If we can’t get
more housing
units and rental
units online
in the market
here, it’s going
to dramatically
impact our
economy.’
Kevin Leahy
executive director of Clatsop
Economic Development Resources
MORE ONLINE
Watch a video talking about
the Housing Crunch in Clatsop
County at goo.gl/JaGB1x
found a home. Tenants now appear
to have options, able to choose
between two or more units.”
Though he is aware the evi-
dence is anecdotal, Fitzpatrick
said “there seems to be a balance
between people moving to the
area and people moving out of the
area.”
Clatsop Economic Develop-
ment Resources recently held a
meeting devoted to housing scar-
city and compiled a list of develop-
ment projects in review and under
construction. Some homebuilding,
to be sure, is taking place.
But most experts do not believe
market forces alone will solve the
problem. Rather, it will require a
combination of market activity,
development code changes and
community consensus to make the
creation of new housing a priority.
“You cannot sit there and say,
‘Well, we’re just not going to deal
with it. It’ll go away,’” Leahy said.
“It’s not going to go away.”
Derrick DePledge contributed
to this report.