By Cindy Nunley
Bellingham is about to lose 19 units of urgently needed affordable housing to make way for a new fire station at a time when residents of the run-down structure bordered by 15th and 16th streets and Harris and McKenzie avenue believe that they will soon receive notice to vacate their homes.
The city council voted 6-1 last August to build the new fire station on the site of the building informally called the "Barracks."
Residents of the South-Side affordable housing unit are angry about the apparent secrecy of the proceedings before the purchase of the property, and the city’s lack of concern for those affected, said Barracks resident Douglas Smith.
The property, originally used to house war veterans attending Western Washington University, was purchased by the city from owner Bob Reid in August for $500,000. But residents were not informed of the deal until after it was final, he said.
"We were not informed of the sale of the property until we received (relocation compensation plan packets) the day after the City Council approved the purchase," Smith said.
Mayor Mark Asmundson believes the city is providing for the needs of the residents by providing them with relocation funds.
"The city doesn’t have to provide relocation assistance, but we will because we are concerned about the people who live there," Asmundson said.
According to the Bellingham-Whatcom County Housing Authority, the city has offered to pay resident’s moving expenses and provide rent assistance for more than 40 months to the displaced. However, no exact financial compensation had been finalized in December (when this story went to press).
"They think we are an eyesore and just want to get us out. The money is just to get us to go," resident Ed Rowe said.
Mayor Mark Asmundson maintains that the site at Harris Avenue was the only acceptable option for a new fire station.
"We spent over two years looking for a site," Asmundson said. "We considered 10 sites but none of the others panned out."
Other sites were ruled out because of soil concerns, wetlands, cost and location, Asmundson said.
Residents of the Barracks are hesitant to believe that the city ever considered any other sites.
"We asked for evidence that they did talk to land owners in other places but the city provided no proof," Rowe said.
In fact, the residents believe that the Barracks was targeted because it doesn’t fit into the city’s vision for the Fairhaven neighborhood.
A memo written by Dave Wolf, the Fire Department’s project manger, maintains acquisition of the Barracks site would cause minimal disruption and opposition. The memo calls the structure a visual blight in a high crime location which causes negative impact on property values.
"I have lived here for 12 years and the place is not crime ridden," said resident Maureen Saunders who works a part-time job at a bookstore to earn her $260 month rent. "They say it’s a blight, but it’s not." she added.
The People’s Land Trust, a group that buys property to provide housing with the idea that the renters are partners with them, wanted to buy the property for what the city would pay for it. The group would have continued to provide affordable housing at the site, but the city rejected the offer.
"The city has been pretty inflexible," Rowe said.
In a nation where 1 percent of the population controls 48 percent of the resources and unemployment in Washington is down to 3 percent, there are still thousands of homeless.
"We need to build barriers at the top of the cliff … where people in poverty don’t fall off, and until we do we need answers at the bottom of the cliff," said Al Archer, director of the Lighthouse Gospel Mission who, for 25 years, has been helping those who have no home.
The more fortunate, those who have homes, pay too much for them.
Almost 50 percent of low-income renters pay more than 30 percent of their gross income to meet their housing needs, according to city officials, with 4 percent of those paying more than half their income to landlords.
Bellingham’s own 1999 Action Plan states that one of the city’s biggest weaknesses is its lack of affordable housing, but 19 units are to be torn down to make way for the rebuilding of the fire station.
The city provides monthly assistance to low income citizens who qualify for it, but the waiting list is about four years long and has more than 1,600 people on it. The housing authority quit accepting applications for this Section 8 housing more than a year ago.
"We are no longer able to accept people," said Kurt Keena, the director of the housing authority. "It does them no good to tell them that if they wait four years we might be able to help them."
"As our economy expands, it expands in low-wage, service sector jobs, and even in times when the economy is good we need to provide housing that is affordable for those people," Keena said.
Keena is concerned that housing needs for low-income people are becoming more urgent because of low wages.
"It’s a Catch-22," Keena said. "We have more than 1,000 (low-income units), but there is twice as much demand as there is supply."
"There are certainly no more jobs at the top, and the jobs at the bottom don’t pay a living wage," Archer said.
In an economy that may seem stable but gives no guarantees, housing is of concern to many who may become one of the less fortunate one day.
"I think that our country is headed for really bad times." Archer said, "I think poverty is going to stretch into what is now the middle class."
"I had a businessman in my office the other day who said, ‘I looked at those people and thought that could be me’ and it could be any of us," Archer said.
"People can go from up here to down there — bang — that quick." he said, "So we never know when it might come."
Even though the city recognizes the urgent need for affordable housing units, the 19 units that will be lost at the Barracks means 19 more families may be unable to find shelter.
"The city has failed the community by not recognizing its own study of what is important to the community," Rowe said.
Resident Douglas Smith concurs.
"The city in its own words said that it’s better to preserve, renovate and update its affordable housing than to build new," Smith said.
The city is considering a provision that will allow a portion of the Barracks to be maintained as affordable housing, but fire officials are not happy with that arrangement.
If the Barracks and the fire station share the property, nine units would remain, but all residents would still be forced to relocate until the building was finished.
"The police and fire issues must come first," said City Council member Pat Rowe.
Keena agrees.
"I understand the residents (of the Barracks) are upset, but their needs must be balanced against the needs of the greater community," Keena said.