By Challenge Seattle and Boston Consulting Group
One of the biggest threats to our region’s quality of life and economic future is the lack of affordable housing.
“The hardest hit, and most visible, are our region’s very-low and low-income residents. As a community, we have been hard at work addressing the homeless crisis and building more housing opportunities for low income individuals and families. As individual companies and philanthropies we have, over the last five years, committed hundreds of millions of dollars to these efforts. Our commitment to these families and individuals has not and will not waver.
“However, another threat is less known and less understood. It is ‘The Invisible Crisis’—the lack of affordable housing for middle-income families and individuals. These are the people our community depends on every day: the people who educate our children, care for us when we are sick, respond to natural and man-made disasters, protect us from harm, fight fires and build our homes and cities. And they are being priced out of almost every zip code in King County.
“The health and vitality of our region is at grave risk. Our traffic congestion could get even worse, economic growth stagnate, our quality of life decline. If we do not act, we will not leave the legacy we must to the next generation.”
