–– from Carolyn Fiscus and Erin O’Dell —
On behalf of the Board and staff of the Orcas Community Resource Center, we urge all members of our community to vote in favor of YES FOR HOMES on the November 2018 San Juan County ballot.
YES FOR HOMES is not a new property tax. Instead it is a small (0.5%) tax on future real estate sales. This measure will affect those who purchase property going forward, but more importantly it will be a powerful tool to increase the amount of affordable housing and thus benefit all of us — those of us who call these islands home, those who are here part of the year, and the tourists who come to these beautiful islands and contribute to our economy.
The Resource Center is not normally in the business of taking positions on issues that fall within the political sphere. We are making an exception in this case because of the hardships that are created by our island’s current lack of affordable housing. Every day we work with clients who are in desperate need of secure, sustainable housing — the lack of which contributes to an astounding range of other problems!
Our mission is to provide assistance to all Orcas islanders in need. It is clear to us that improved availability of affordable housing will have beneficial effects on every aspect of that mission. And we are persuaded that this measure will provide such availability.
Please join us in voting YES FOR HOMES this November!
Erin O’Dell, Executive Director
Carolyn Fiscus, Board Chair
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I agree that this is a tough issue, but using other’s people money to solve it runs against my principles. I believe this unfair tax, if passed would create a whole new bureaucracy and bureaucrats are non elected and don’t work for free. Utopian can of worms if I ever saw one. I lived on Orcas for 38 years and managed though hard and diligent labor to manifest a tiny home, which I gradually enlarged to a regular house. Residing on Orcas was a privilege, I never considered it a right.
Well things are different now aren’t they… ‘cept our mode of thinking.
Vote NO! This is creeping ever so much in the wrong direction. It’s attempting to subsidize peter on the back of another peter, not even paul. Very ill-designed tax (sort of like that worker head-count tax fiasco in Seattle that was quickly reversed and absurd in real practice). Take a look at Windermere’s orcas islands listings. Lots of homes under 800k. This tax (excise tax is a tax) targets every homebuyer indiscriminately. Not calling it a tax is akin to lenders not calling many extra add-ons “points” as they advertise teaser interest rates to get you in the door. Yes, living where you prefer isn’t a right, Scott. I’d like a home on Colony Drive in Malibu—someone gonna subsidize that? It’s a perverted form of greed in reverse. Many people of humble origins made do without, and slowly built up, not to massive wealth, but to a decent-sized home. The points about affordable housing (to purchase) for working folks is a problem everywhere yet people on the mainland work, build a down payment and join incomes to qualify for a mortgage (with hopefully a decent FICO score so banks aren’t assuming too great a risk to lend). It’s a sound system. The standards were lowered before because of politics and we saw the result: 2008 housing implosion. Not even on the mainland would they attempt this. How is it possibly justiified on the backs of such a small community many of whom moved here on fixed incomes. Wrong direction.
Vote YES! Just to clarify — this is not about “…subsidiz(ing) the purchase of a “private” home by another “private citizen….” This is about providing more affordable housing. That housing can be in the form of additional rental units. It can be in the form of rental assistance. The proceeds of the tax will be used exclusively for the development of affordable housing including acquisition, building, rehabilitation, maintenance and operation of housing.
Also, when you say: “Let’s also consider the implications of ‘attracting’ an unsustainable increase in the population.” The population you are describing are teachers, construction workers, Medical Lab Technicians, medical social workers, waiters, retail workers — based on average salaries, over 50% of current San Juan county households will be eligible to access the Home Fund through county non-profits.
For more information, check out: https://www.sanjuanco.com/896/Affordable-Housing. There are many links on that page.
BTW, when you say, “We happily pay for: public trusts for general welfare, ie: Land Bank 1%” The Land Bank is also funded by a REET, the same funding mechanism as this initiative. I hope we also consider housing as a public trust for the general welfare of our community.