SPOKANE, Wash. — Local experts are calling Spokane’s housing situation a crisis because of high prices and low vacancy rates.
According to the Executive Director of Spokane’s Low-Income Housing Consortium, Ben Stuckart, apartment prices have increased 14% from 2020 to 2021. In just April of 2021, prices increased by 5%.
Stuckart said the prices have forced the average Spokane resident to spend more than the recommended 33% of their monthly income on housing. The issue stems from a lack of rental properties for people moving to the area.
People have been moving to Spokane in droves over the past five years but the county has not been building enough housing, according to Stuckart. That has led to less than 1% of rentals in Spokane being available.
“We’re never going to stop people from moving here, so we have to adjust,” Stuckart said.
To adjust, Stuckart said the county needs to start building multi-family housing. Washington state passed a Growth Management Act 30 years ago, restricting urban growth. That forced Spokane County to stop building into rural areas.
Now, the county’s only option is to increase density in areas already populated. Most of Spokane County is currently single-family housing, and proposed apartments, condos and townhomes are being rejected by locals.
Stuckart said its a “not in my backyard” issue. Spokane residents are not interested in the housing growth for their specific neighborhoods. His solution is to build more housing downtown. Five to ten thousand more people could live downtown if apartments are built in the vacant parking lots, Stuckart said.
“We would see those prices start to flatten out right away if we put that many more apartments on the market,” he said.