Cari Cortez: Managing the moving pieces of the housing shortage

Cari Cortez’s official title with the City of Moses Lake is housing and grants coordinator. It sounds simple, but there’s more involved than people may realize.

“I obviously manage grants for our homeless housing program, and then we also have some more community development type grants such as implementing our housing action plan, updating the shoreline master plan – so I also coordinate what needs to be done with those,” Cortez said.

In addition to that, Cortez oversees work at the city’s sleep center for those experiencing homelessness and making sure everything there is running as smoothly as possible. That’s in addition to working toward the implementation of Moses Lake’s Housing Action Plan which was adopted in November of last year.

“Housing is a big issue right now,” Cortez said.

There are a variety of housing issues that need attention in Moses Lake and across Grant County, Cortez said. It’s what to do about those that makes the job challenging.

“It feels like there’s a disconnect, where everyone obviously recognizes there’s a housing problem,” Cortez said. “Like, that’s not up for debate. I think everyone can agree on that, but obviously, people have strong opinions on how to address it.”

Cortez said she is working to ensure that Moses Lake is able to keep the small-town feel that it has, while still handling the problems of homelessness and a lack of suitable housing inventory. She’s hopeful that residents will step in and collaborate with her to develop solutions for both problems. She hopes to get innovative ideas for solutions that will help improve both situations within the city.

“I feel like, the more people we have at the table, the more likely we can come to a solution that helps the most people in our community,” Cortez said.

Cortez said she doesn’t think most of the residents of the city and the surrounding area understand how tight the housing market really is. About a third of the families in Moses Lake are cost-burdened, she said. That means they spend more than 30% of their household income on rent or a mortgage. She added that home values in Moses Lake increased by 47% from 2012 to 2018, so families which used to do well are now priced out of homes they used to be able to afford, either as a renter or a buyer. Incomes only increased by about 19% during that same time, she said. Additionally, if city residents are spending significantly more money on housing, then she’s concerned about the essentials they aren’t getting because of tight budgets.

“If that’s the case, what are they not spending money on?” she said. “How does that affect them?”

Cortez said she’s working to find solutions to help the community address housing challenges. The city currently has a lot of homes that house couples that were built when the owners likely had children at home. However, while the house is now big enough for a larger family, it’s being used by just two people. There are more families needing affordable housing than there is inventory, she said, so part of the problem the city is facing, and one contributor to homelessness, is a lack of diversity in housing options. The city just doesn’t have the housing options it needs for the population it currently has, she said.

Finding ways to address the housing inventory problem and make sure Moses Lake has a high quality of life is key to her role with the city, she said. While she’s got the support of city administration, Cortez said she really would like more solutions provided by the community as well.

“Let’s think of solutions,” Cortez said. “If (those solutions) are something we don’t like, offer alternatives. Because collaboration is important. Everyone has their own expertise, professionally, plus just living in this community (provides them with knowledge).”

Cortez said she’s focused on making sure the city’s housing concerns are addressed and she understands that how Moses Lake tackles the housing situation will serve as a model for the surrounding communities.

When Cortez isn’t at work, she says she manages the stress of the job with athletics and reading. She runs during her spare time, including occasional marathons. She said she enjoys the running community for its welcoming atmosphere. She also likes to read both for entertainment and to educate herself.

“I like to learn more, you know. I like to just learn more about all the factors involved, I mean, so many of these issues are so complex, so there’s many aspects to it. It’s hard to feel like you have a grasp on things sometimes because all of the parts involved are moving pieces,” she said.