I recently had the opportunity to represent Minerva Strategies at Philanthropy Northwest’s 2024 conference in Missoula, MT. I moderated a panel called “How philanthropy can lead the way on affordable housing” and the panelists were three brilliant folks: Kris Hermanns formerly of Evergreen Impact Housing Fund (EIHF), Michael Brown from Black Home Initiative, and Joel Combs from Microsoft.
Affordable housing is a topic that Minerva has worked on for several years, especially in Washington state. We have been EIHF’s communication partner since the Fund started back in early 2020 and have collaborated with Black Home Initiative—communicating around their Field Order 15 Fund—and Microsoft around their $750 million commitment to affordable housing.
But despite this continuing client-inspired education, and decades of first-hand knowledge of Seattle’s skyrocketing housing prices, participation in the panel was an enormous learning experience. Affordable housing can be hella complicated and Kris, Michael, and Joel are three of the smartest minds in our state focused on this challenge. Being on a panel with them was like being in a master class. Here are a few things I learned:
- Money is a big problem. Building affordable housing, especially large-scale projects with 200+ apartments, is expensive. Costs of materials, land, and labor are all high and public funding is scarce. The Washington State Department of Commerce estimates that our state will need 1.1 million new homes over the next 20 years. That kind of ramp up will cost a significant amount of money.
- Money isn’t the only problem. The panelists talked a lot about what’s called the “housing ecosystem.” It’s comprised of all the factors on the supply side that allow developers to build housing—land, labor, and financing—and all the factors on the demand side that enable folks to get into housing—down payment assistance, loan underwriting, and even outreach so people know that housing is available. Plus, there’s the policy and regulatory environment that enables this whole system to work. In summary, it’s complex; there are lots of things that need to go right for affordable housing to work.
- There’s hope. I know this sounds grim, but we can do hard things. Almost everyone I spoke with stressed the need for policy changes that would free up more money for more housing to be built—at scale—for folks with different income levels, especially for working families. There are also many ways that philanthropic capital, with its patient nature and appetite for risk, can get involved to boost the supply of affordable housing. Evergreen Impact Housing Fund’s gap-filling financing and the Field Order 15 Fund to support Black developers (run by Black Home Initiative and HomeSight) are two great examples.
- Missoula is a cool town. Unrelated topic, I’d never been to Missoula and found it delightful. It’s a university town with tons of natural beauty, great bars and restaurants, and a fantastic urban trail system. I highly recommend for a visit but don’t try living there because…you guessed it: a lack of affordable housing.
Looking at the housing conundrum of Seattle and so many cities, I reflect a lot on growing up on the East Coast. My dad was a truck driver and my mom was a teacher who, with modest but fair union wages, were able to buy a nice-enough house in the same town as more well-to-do folks who commuted to Manhattan with fancy jobs. We all went to the same schools and shops and houses of worship; we built a community together.
It was a different time, and that community had plenty of downsides, but the idea of families with diverse jobs, needs, and ideas living together to weave a social fabric is plenty appealing, particularly in our divided country. And making housing affordable for working families is a big part of that weave. A society in which inequality is so profound that people who make a city work can’t afford to live there—or even within a 10-mile radius—is bound to be a chronically unhealthy one.
For a good breakdown of why the cost of housing is so high—and what can be done about it—I recommend listening to this illuminating episode of The Daily.
