Redmond seeks to tackle affordable housing issue

Redmond City Manager Keith Witcosky gave a presentation at a city council workshop on affordable housing Tuesday night on the tools and resources for motivating housing production. The workshop focused on what affordable housing is, who is in most need, how it’s produced and the steps going forward.

According to the Affordable Housing Glossary of Terms, affordable housing is “in general, housing for which the occupants are paying no more than 30 percent of his or her income for gross housing costs, including utilities.”

“There’s very few places to rent and there’s not a lot of places to buy, so it affects everyone,” Witcosky said. “It’s not just seasonal workers, and it’s not just those with master’s degrees.”

The city hasn’t had a workshop in the last few years that focused specifically on affordable housing. But over the past year, city staff has had various conversations with the council about homelessness.

“We wanted to stretch that topic open to not just talk about homelessness, but also to say, ‘Here’s what common people in Redmond are struggling with in terms of housing,'” Witcosky said. “Here’s some of the different housing choices that are available today.”

According to Witcosky, the average age of a Redmond resident is 34, with an annual income of $40,154, and 24.7 percent of its residents live in poverty.

The average monthly rent for a Redmond apartment is just over $1,100 and the average home price is $285,000.

The people who typically lack affordable housing options are homeless individuals and families, veterans, seniors, people with barriers, and people with disabilities.

Some of the ways more housing opportunities can be encouraged created is through partnering with private and non-profit organizations, pursuing funding opportunities, maintaining the existing supply of low-income and affordable units, and relieving property taxes for a period of time.

Reviewing what other communities have done to address the issue is part of what the city will be doing over the next several months.