Bulletin #4
June 1, 2005
We have been making the rounds, talking to
various community groups, employers and key community leaders. The comments and questions that we have
received are interesting and bear repeating.
The most frequent comment that we have
heard is, “I’m glad that someone is
working on this problem.” This comment
is similar in some ways to related comments like, “The problem is too big to solve locally,” or “You cannot stem the tide. The
market is going to inflate no matter what you do,” or “The market will correct for this.
It always does,” or “Isn’t this what our affordable housing groups already do?” All of these comments including the first
indicate a distressingly pervasive disconnect from dealing with the problem of
affordable housing.
When we surveyed employers on
What if we cannot hire or retain the
people that we need to staff the essential jobs on the islands? What
would our day-to-day island experience be?
Today, we have become accustomed to things
running pretty smoothly. We occasionally
have a power failure in the winter, but seldom for more than a few hours. Our propane usually gets delivered before we
run out. Our telephones
rarely fail and many of us now have high speed internet access. Our emergency medical care is remarkably good
for a rural community. Our crime rate is
very low. We turn out some pretty great
kids in our schools. Overall, things are
pretty good.
But, symptoms of problems are beginning to
emerge. Among most public sector
employers with requirements for professional staff there is growing concern
about attracting and retaining trained staff.
Our sheriff worries about law enforcement officers who discover after
they are hired that they cannot afford to live here. On
What if all these people who we depend on
every day gradually disappeared? What
would we do? Even if you are fortunate
enough to already own our home, this problem still involves you. If we just raised wages to a level that would
allow working families to purchase homes, prices for services would be out
of reach for many of us. It won’t go
away and it will only get worse if we delay finding solutions.
This is why none of us can afford to
ignore the problem any longer. This is
not an issue of helping those less fortunate, but rather is what might be
described as “enlightened self interest.”
If we are to preserve our communities, we need to pull together to find
solutions.
This Saturday, June 4th, from
We ask you to consider putting aside
whatever you planned for Saturday to join us.
Are you disconnected? Please join
us in what we hope will be a very productive beginning to solving this problem.
Lee Sturdivant,
Sandy Bishop,
Pick up lunches and various handouts including blank forms to
provide questions, feedback, etc.
Lisa Byers, Executive Director,
Peter C. Fisher, President of Island Stewards and well known
advocate for preserving our islands for over 20 years.
Sarah Lewonton, Executive Director,
Housing Resource Group, a highly successful project providing housing for
Led by
Led by Craig Wier, President, eUsers,
principal in Navigating Our Future and member of the
San Juan County Affordable Housing Fund Commission.
Led by Steve Garrison, Retired CEO,
Founder, Orcas Research Group, Executive Committee, SJ Economic Development
Council.
As always, our most recent publications are posted at our
website http://orcasresearch.org/
and you can contact us at any time at Losleben@rockisland.com or Garrison@rockisland.com
Tax deductible donations to help support the Housing Summit
and to help pay for materials and supplies are gratefully accepted through
Navigating Our Future, Housing Project, PO Box 298, Deer Harbor, WA
28243. This is a totally volunteer effort, so your help is appreciated.