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THE ASTORIAN • THuRSdAy, MAy 6, 2021
OPINION
editor@dailyastorian.com
KARI BORGEN
Publisher
DERRICK DePLEDGE
Editor
Founded in 1873
SHANNON ARLINT
Circulation Manager
JOHN D. BRUIJN
Production Manager
CARL EARL
Systems Manager
OUR VIEW
Housing crunch coming to a boil
T
he biggest surprise about
our regional housing
shortage is that it took so
long to fully materialize.
There have been signs before
now. For decades, places like
Cannon Beach have grown
increasingly out of reach for wage
earners. Employers there depend
on workers’ ability to commute
from similar — but lower priced
— surrounding communities.
Lagging in prestige and lacking
views of dramatic Haystack Rock,
these towns had relatively afford-
able places to buy or rent. This
was particularly true north of the
Columbia, where an ocean-view
building site might be found for a
quarter the cost of one in Cannon
Beach or Gearhart.
Thirty years ago, it was obvi-
ous to a newcomer from Seattle
or Portland that the scenery, salt-
water access, lifestyles, local food
and other assets of towns from
Ocean Park to Warrenton and
Astoria were magnets that would
inevitably attract enormous inter-
est on the increasingly crowded
West Coast. Driven by construc-
tion of vacation housing, the
number of dwellings swelled even
while the full-time population
count crept up more slowly. The
scarcity of good-paying local jobs
and a multihour commute to the
I-5 corridor kept a lid on.
But the Columbia-Pacific hous-
ing market has become unmoored
from the local economy —
and the “local” economy has
expanded to include many who
can live here and make or bring
money from elsewhere. Kicked
into high gear by a year of pan-
demic and urban social unrest, the
coast is one of many places feel-
ing the effects of an accelerat-
ing recalibration of where it feels
possible to live. Partly because
of limited housing stock, Clat-
sop and Pacific counties still rep-
resent only a tiny sliver of this
trend. But it’s enough to have a
big impact.
Scarcity and rising home prices
drive rentals off the market, espe-
cially after a year when evic-
tion for nonpayment of rent was
barred as a humanitarian mea-
sure during the pandemic. Con-
Hailey Hoffman/The Astorian
Housing has become a dominant issue on the coast.
WE CAN NO LONGER ASSuME THAT uP-ANd-
dOWN CyCLES WILL RESuLT IN ENOuGH
HOuSING FOR THOSE WHO ARE GENuINELy
COMMITTEd TO LONG-TERM LIVING HERE. THIS
COAST IS FILLING uP ANd THE dAyS OF SuRPLuS
HOuSING JuST MIGHT BE OVER FOREVER.
struction isn’t keeping up with
demand for single- or multifamily
housing.
Has the time arrived when
someone who grew up here can’t
afford to live here?
Those without a foot in the
door in the form of already own-
ing a starter house or significant
family help are hard-pressed to
join the ranks of real estate own-
ers. This could change without
policy interventions. The wind-
ing-down of the COVID crisis
could bring foreclosed vacation
homes on the residential market,
for example. Market forces could
eventually allow investors to see
the need for new apartment and
condo construction.
Considering the ups and downs
of real estate, some question the
American fascination with own-
ing your home. There’s something
to be said for turning more social
and political attention to making
sure that people like our Coast
Guardsmen, seafood and hospital-
ity workers have clean, safe rental
housing they can afford through-
out our seasonal economic fluc-
tuations. Federal and state tax
policies should be designed to
encourage rural apartment invest-
ment, with municipal and county
zoning rules adjusted to match
this priority. The Pacific North-
west’s charitable foundations
should find opportunities to help.
With the Washington Post
reporting “more than 8 million
rental properties across the coun-
try are behind on payments by an
average of $5,600,” every level
of society needs to prepare for an
unprecedented period of hous-
ing insecurity whenever rent for-
bearances are finally allowed to
expire. While evictions will free
up some rentals for tenants able
and willing to pay, there will be
real suffering on the part of those
squeezed out. Their housing
needs will have to be addressed,
somehow.
There are no quick answers
to any of this. At our local level,
all high schools should have
robust vocational programs to
train young people in the build-
ing trades — high-paying jobs
that will be in demand for many
years to come. Utility fees need to
be structured in ways that recap-
ture costs without discouraging
development. Cluster housing and
other innovative strategies must
be used to increase the utilization
of residential land in ways that
continue to preserve the environ-
mental values that make our area
so attractive.
We can no longer assume that
up-and-down cycles will result in
enough housing for those who are
genuinely committed to long-term
living here. This coast is filling up
and the days of surplus housing
just might be over forever.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Long overdue
’ve spent most of my life in the Wash-
ington, D.C., area, and worked in the
city for many years. Statehood for the
D.C. is long overdue, and I believe it to
be just as important to our democracy as
balance and reason in the Supreme Court.
Oregon has been my home for the last
22 years, but I will never forget seeing
the people of the nation’s capital disen-
franchised. Even city laws that the resi-
dents pass to govern themselves can be
blocked by Congress.
Things that D.C. voters wanted, like a
clean needle program, medical marijuana
and funding for abortion programs, have
been squashed by Congress, nullifying
their decisions. There are more people
living in D.C. than in Wyoming or Ver-
mont, yet they have no voice.
Know this: Opposition to D.C. state-
hood is the ultimate voter suppression.
KEN POTTER
Cannon Beach
I
What is more important?
disagree with the county’s involvement
in asking the governor to support let-
ting us do our own thing. On the national
map, we are one of the states in the red,
with an increase of virus cases.
There have been more than two dozen
new virus cases over the past several
days in Clatsop County. A Knappa stu-
dent tested positive for the virus. Clo-
sures in population-dense counties inland
I
will result in an increase in viral load
here, due to more visitors to the coast.
Clearly the Clatsop County commis-
sion forgets what it was like here on the
coast last spring. Instead, spend the next
few weeks, while the risk levels are being
evaluated, to make smart short-term
investment of stimulus dollars to bridge
the lack of tax revenue, and lend support
to small business.
I also urge leaders of local govern-
ment to invest their time and resources
to champion an outreach campaign to get
folks vaccinated, and preach the value of
wearing masks.
What is more important, money or
lives? A few more weeks to focus on pro-
tecting permanent residents, and our
workforce, will help to blunt the expected
onslaught coming our way this summer.
KYLE WALKER
Warrenton
Do your part
listened to the League of Oregon Cit-
ies conference call on April 23, and
noticed something unusual. Our Dem-
ocrat governor’s representative asked
for the two same exact “pivotal” actions
that the Alaska Republican governor has
asked of his state in our battle against
COVID-19: The need for people to wear
masks; and the need for people to be fully
vaccinated.
Please do your part to help things get
back to normal; we certainly need to be
ready for the employment, and money,
I
summer tourists can bring to our area.
RICK NEWTON
Warrenton
Bad attitude
egarding the article in The Astorian
(April 29) about visitors angry that
the Astoria Column closed because of the
COVID-19 virus: With Clatsop County
swinging back and forth between high
risk and extreme risk, it makes sense to
close the Column, considering the narrow
spiral staircase and crowding of people
on the staircase.
Maybe visitors who are angry because
R
they can’t go in the tower right now
should consider going elsewhere. Perhaps
the beach, or a walk in a park. Now is not
the time to be crowding into a small spi-
ral staircase.
It is also not the time to be display-
ing bad manners by harassing employ-
ees at the tower. And, to Matteo Luccio,
of Portland, who wants his $5 back, sig-
nage and an apology, or he is threatening
litigation about the Column being closed,
perhaps he should stay in Portland and
visit some of your lovely tourist attrac-
tions there, and not bring your bad atti-
tude to Astoria.
SHARON DAVIS-ROBINSON
Gearhart