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Affordable housing demands may indicate wage-gap

By Meghan Erkkinen

The Puyallup Tribe of Indians recently committed a generous amount to the Point Defiance Zoo Society’s capital campaign - $685,000 over the next five years that the zoo will have to apply for yearly to receive annual payments of $137,000. Caryl Zenker, deputy director of the Zoo Society, called the tribe’s gift “an absolutely historic occasion and a terrific partnership.”

“[There is a] continuing gap between what it costs to rent housing on the private market and the wages our economy is producing,” Mirra said. “People line up because the housing assistance THA provides is quite valuable.”

The applications were for two different programs – the Section 8 program, which provides housing vouchers, and public housing, which places low-income residents in publicly-owned housing around the city. Approximately 10,000 applications were distributed around the city between March 11 and 13. About 8,000 applications were submitted by March 21.

“That’s a very large response. It’s certainly at least as large as it was in the past,” said Nancy Vignec, spokesperson for the housing authority.

The waiting list opens periodically when the pool of applicants gets smaller, or the number of applicants seeking certain criteria, such as a certain number of bedrooms, get thin. Once people are accepted onto the waiting list, however, it can be years before their housing needs are met.

“People that are on the waiting list sometimes have to wait two years or more before they get housed,” Vignec said. “It’s a little bit hard to predict how long. It depends on how closely their situation matches all their different preferences.”

It tends to be easier to place smaller families and elderly and disabled people. For larger apartments with more bedrooms, the THA tries to serve families with children first.

“Generally speaking, certainly for our family developments, people admitted to those developments always are families because we have a preference for serving people with children,” Vignec said.

Affordable housing in the Tacoma area is becoming increasingly more difficult for lower income families to find, according to Mirra. The hourly wage necessary to pay for a market-rate two-bedroom apartment in the city is $15.15 – almost twice the state’s minimum wage.

Although the housing assistance waitlist is closed, the THA tries to direct individuals and families to other sources of housing. However, Mirra expects other organizations might already be exceeding the assistance they can provide.

“I expect the waitlists at other providers would be as long,” he said.

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