Corrections Corner: HB 1110 and small communities

Now a new, and hopefully very rare, segment on KUOW.

We're calling it Corrections Corner in which a reporter steps forward to address an error in their reporting, and maybe provide more context to help us understand the issue a little better.

Soundside host Libby Denkmann sat down with KUOW Housing Reporter Joshua McNichols to talk about a quick correction about his reporting on HB 1110.

Joshua, why did you want to call attention to an error in your own reporting?

Because sometimes reporters make mistakes. And our obligation to listeners is transparency. We're trying to build trust here, so it seemed like a good idea.

What error did you make?

In a very short newscast story last week, I was describing the middle housing bill that passed, and I said that soon you’d be able to build duplexes in small towns like Aberdeen and Ferndale, Washington. Bigger cities must allow four-plexes, but for small cities, the requirement is duplexes.

So what was wrong with that?

Well, the bill carved out an exemption for small towns that are not adjacent to a much bigger city like Seattle, Everett, Bellevue, Tacoma, or Spokane. That means that not all small towns are treated the same.

Small towns like Mill Creek, which are near a big city, must now allow duplexes. But small towns like Ferndale and Aberdeen, which are relatively isolated, and have populations under 25,000, are exempt from the bill. I figured it out almost right away and put a correction in the web story, but you know, people had already heard it on the radio.

So places where people might be commuting into the big city, they would be included, but places that they're less likely to be commuting into a big city, they're not included. Joshua, you told us that since that error, you've done a little digging into why that exemption exists for small towns. What did you find?

Yeah, first I asked the Association of Washington Cities, which requested this exemption. Their lobbyist, Carl Schroeder, told me his that small cities didn’t like being treated the same as large cities. So, they were happy that the final bill gave those cities a break.

But I wanted to understand if the mayors of those rural small towns felt that being left out of this bill was a good thing for them. So, I called the mayors of the two towns that I’d mentioned — Aberdeen and Ferndale.

Aberdeen is down in Grays Harbor, near the coast of Washington. Here’s Mayor Pete Schave:

“We have a big shortage of higher end housing. Huge shortage. Almost nothing available for higher end.”

High end housing? Did I hear that right, Joshua, you mean Mayor Pete wants more expensive housing?

Yeah, that totally surprised me. Aberdeen's housing stock is getting really old. And the mayor says that while Aberdeen definitely needs more low-income housing, the city is failing to attract new businesses due to a lack of clean, modern market-rate housing.

“So if like a traveling doctor or nurses come here… Traveling doctors and nurses that work here at our hospital, we have a great hospital, but it’s a struggle for these folks to have a decent place to live.”

So, folks commute from nicer homes in Olympia, almost 50 miles away, or from Ocean Shores.

I asked him if the middle housing bill, that would have allowed duplexes on single family lots, could have helped build more of that modern housing for doctors, nurses, and for employers that Aberdeen wants to attract.

He said he doubts any of that housing would have been built in Aberdeen, even if the bill had allowed it.

“The amount that you can charge for rent here in Aberdeen isn’t the same as it is in Olympia. They just can’t get the rent. But the cost of building a duplex is up there enough where it prohibits the return on investment.”

Wow. So the mayor sounds kind of pessimistic about the future of Aberdeen. Did he offer any solutions?

He’s trying to get some modern apartments built, and he’s hoping things will turn around for Aberdeen when they finish building a levee around downtown. The levee is meant to protect downtown Aberdeen from floods, and until that happens, property owners there have to pay for really expensive flood insurance. And that pushes the cost of housing higher.

I heard a very different perspective though, from Mayor Greg Hansen of Ferndale.

They're facing a housing shortage too, but that his city has found a way out of its rut – by encouraging duplexes and accessory dwelling units.

What? You mean, just like the middle housing bill?

Exactly like what was in the middle housing bill.

“We were all for it. And in fact, many of things that were in that, we’ve already done. We’ve allowed duplexes in single family lots for at least five years, but I want to say it’s closer to eight years.”

And if you build a backyard cottage, they give you a little prize.

“My communications officer wanted to make sure you saw this… so this is Ferndale, and it says, ‘Housing for all?’ Ha ha. And this is an incentive program. Get a T-shirt – once you get the final occupancy on an ADU in Ferndale.”

He says this policy – of encouraging new housing is helping young families find affordable homes in Ferndale, despite rising housing costs. He offered some advice – for other towns, that do fall under the scope of the middle housing bill, that will now be asked to allow new kinds of housing into their neighborhoods.

“Embrace the change. These initiatives are gonna change your communities for the positive. And I think that’s been Ferndale’s experience, is that these have had a positive impact on our community and our ability to maintain the diversity that we’ve always enjoyed in this city.”

Joshua, thanks for coming on Corrections Corner today to correct a reporting error – and providing so much more.