Forum considers how to ease costs and protect farmland
The solution to Skagit County’s housing woes is building more housing for all income levels and rethinking the way we plan for growth, as emerged from Tuesday’s housing forum featuring local housing and planning experts.
The forum at the Mount Vernon Library Commons was hosted by North Star, a partnership between Skagit County, local cities, housing and healthcare providers and more, created with the goal of addressing local housing issues and some alarming trends.
According to Brad Johnson, community development director for the City of Burlington, the Growth Management Act — which requires the establishment of urban growth areas to prevent sprawl and protect agricultural land — recently added a new requirement that cities and counties must plan for housing for different income levels.
La Conner and Swinomish would need five new homes per year, or 124 and 118 homes added between 2020 and 2045, to accommodate for population growth. In both communities, 32% of this new housing needs to be affordable to those earning up to 30% of the median income.
While some frown upon luxury apartments, housing experts believe they are necessary, as well.
Skagit County has one of the lowest rental vacancy rates in the country, below 5%. This means that even those who can afford to move to a higher-end abode may be unable to do so because there simply isn’t enough supply, which prevents low-income people from taking over those affordable spaces.
Between 2015 and 2024, the median annual income in Skagit County grew by 50.73%, far below the 67.71% increase for the average rent of a two-bedroom apartment and the 105.37% increase to buy a home.
Adding more housing has been shown to keep rents low, as well as prevent homelessness and urban sprawl.
Bill Kreager, an architect and community planner, said compact growth within our communities protects farmland from being developed, and showed the many ways affordable and compact development can be functionally and visually appealing to a variety of lifestyles, blend in with the community’s historic character and even get approval from density-skeptics.
The presenting experts discussed other solutions as well, such as changing zoning rules to allow and encourage mixed housing types, lowering size requirements for lots and street frontage for housing plans, reducing fees and parking requirements for affordable housing, and allowing housing by right in residential zones by eliminating the time-consuming public review process for projects that comply with the zoning code.
Luisa Loi is a general assignment reporter for La Conner Community News.
