Report shows City of Vancouver’s struggle to meet annual housing goals
PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — A report from Vancouver leaders shows the city still has progress to make in its goal of constructing new units annually to meet the demand for housing.
In April, Vancouver’s Economic Prosperity and Housing department released data on the state of housing through 2023.
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The annual report highlights the official Housing Action Plan, which previously established the city needs to construct an additional 2,500 units across each of the next 10 years to close its housing deficit.
City leaders determined at least 1,000 of those units should be affordable housing, for residents who earn less than 80% of the area’s median household income of $76,799.
In 2023, officials created nearly 1,500 housing units — down from 1,900 units the year before.
The lack of housing is no surprise after Vancouver City Manager Eric Holmes declared a homelessness state of emergency last November.
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According to the new report, the state of emergency was a response to the city’s “unprecedented population growth.”
Homeless Response Manager Jamie Spinelli previously shared Clark County had experienced a 54% increase in residents experiencing “chronic homelessness” since 2022. Within the county’s homeless population, about 78% of them are based in Vancouver.
The city partially attributes the growing unsheltered population to rising housing costs. The data show media home prices surged by 80% from 2011 to 2021, while the average monthly rent surged by 70% — yet average median income increased by just 18.8%.
“Renters are nearly three times more likely to be cost burdened than homeowners, with 27% of renters severely cost burdened (spending more than 50% of their income on rent) and around 57% cost burdened (spending more than 30% of their income on rent) in the City as of 2021,” the report added.
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Luckily for Vancouver leaders, 53.3% of voters in the February 2023 special election approved the renewal and increase of the city’s Affordable Housing Fund.
And starting this year, the fund will cover $10 million of affordable housing annually for the next decade.
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