There are no easy solutions to the region’s housing shortage and the unaffordability of housing in Inland Northwest cities and towns. Remedies are coming on a variety of fronts, from zoning changes to sweat-equity programs. We’ll hear about two examples of forward progress in Spokane on the home ownership front.
This week, the Oregon non-profit group First Story held a wall-raising ceremony for a new home in Spokane’s Five Mile Neighborhood. It has been sold to a woman named Amanda Cole, a single mother with two boys.
"We live in our duplex right now, and they keep upping our rent and they're not updating anything. And I feel like this home here in this community is not only affordable for us, but it's in a safe area. And no matter what, we're not going to have to worry about them selling it under us like a lot of rental people do," Cole said.
Without some kind of help, she was likely not going to be able to find a home that fit her budget and her family’s needs.
Last week, residents of the Takesa Village manufactured home park in Mead gathered with some visitors for a group photo in front of the new addition to their community. The visitors included Sarah Ben Olson, the executive director at Village Co-Housing Works.
"It's a 780-square-foot home, two-bedroom. It's an open-floor plan, so it makes the most of a small amount of space. And we chose this home model because it is the most energy-efficient home model on the market. It is net-zero ready, is what they call it. So, Avista partners with us to put a whole-home heat pump on these houses so that the cost of heating and cooling is under $100 all year long," she said.
What does a house like this cost today?
"If somebody wanted to buy this on the market, commercially, without the land, it would be about $100,000, $120,000. We're selling them for under $100,000. And we hope to keep that price stable," Ben Olson said.
The Endangered Species Act has been a tool that government agencies and others have used to help species from gray wolves to spotted owls increase their populations. But changes may be coming to the landmark law. Owen Henderson explores how those changes could affect efforts to recover salmon species in the Northwest.
