Winter 1998 Newsletter

Formatting Update: August, 1998

President’s message

by Kathryn Kurtz

First, the bad news: The lack of affordable housing has reached crisis level in Seattle, once described as one of the most livable cities in the U.S. The price of an average home has almost doubled in the past ten years, while rents have risen by 50%. Housing prices have moved up far faster than the average household's income. Over 17,000 families are now on the Seattle Housing Authority's waiting list and over 4000 people in Seattle on any given night are without any housing at all, sleeping in shelters or on the street. A growing number of the homeless are families with small children.

Now, the good news: The problem is so great that people can no longer ignore it, and groups are seeking ways to resolve it through greater collaboration with each other. Responding to the invitation of Mayor Paul Schell, organizations concerned with affordable housing contributed their ideas to create the "Seattle Housing Action Agenda." The document has been the focus of neighborhood meetings and consultations with community groups during the month of February. Their input will be further refined at the Community Conference on Affordable Housing at the Seattle Center on March 21.

Seattle Habitat is actively participating in these efforts to define and implement solutions to the housing crisis. We are eager to collaborate with groups who share our mission. In fact, as our logo suggests, partnership is at the heart of Habitat. We join hands -- with families in need, with construction volunteers, with building professionals, with benefactors -- to build homes and lives and communities. Now more than ever we are called on to extend Habitat hands to other housing organizations where potential partnerships can move us closer to our mutual goals.

The Seattle housing picture is in desperate need of some Good News. It will come in the form of committed individuals willing to work together to hammer out solutions. Someone just like you.