Nonprofit tackles starter home costs

SEATTLE — A new partnership between the private and public sectors could make owning their first home attainable for more Washington families. 

Civic Commons, a Seattle-based nonprofit, recently announced its Starter Home Plan, a road map toward enabling more people to purchase homes across Washington. 

“No single entity can solve Washington’s housing crisis alone,” Civic Commons wrote in its announcement. “That’s why public-private collaboration is a foundational aspect of the Starter Home Plan’s new approach to solving long-entrenched housing production problems.” 

The organization recently acquired donations from JPMorganChase, Columbia Bank and the U.S. Bank Foundation to fund the first steps, according to the announcement. 

“Safe and stable housing can help children, families and communities thrive,” Esther Richmond, community affairs manager at U.S. Bank, wrote in the announcement.  “We’re proud to collaborate with organizations like Civic Commons to help accelerate starter-home production at scale through a community-centric approach.” 

Only about 65% of households in Washington own their home, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, and Washington has consistently been in the top 10 of states with the highest housing costs. This presents substantial barriers for families moving from rentals to ownership.  

Civic Commons’ plan is laid out in seven stages, or “plays,” on the road to an affordable starter-home ecosystem, according to its comprehensive plan, dubbed the ‘Ecosystem Playbook.” Those include increasing off-site housing production, establishing low-cost financing programs and streamlining regulation. 

Much of the Starter Home Plan leans heavily on off-site construction, where part of all of the house is done in a factory or other location away from where the home will be placed, according to the Ecosystem Playbook. This includes manufactured homes and modular homes. Only about 3% of Washington homes are currently built off-site, according to Eye on Housing, the economic research blog of the National Association of Home Builders.  

The donations from the three financial entities total $875,000, according to the announcement, or 63% of the Starter Home Plan’s initial $1.4 million fundraising goal. It will allow Civic Commons to engage in what it calls “network weaving,” building partnerships with elected officials, builders, developers, manufacturers, private financiers and funders, private philanthropy, and public funding partners such as the Washington State Housing Finance Commission to achieve a common goal. 

“It is encouraging to see these organizations demonstrate their belief in the Starter Home Plan,” said Marty Kooistra, founding member of the project team and Network Weaver at Civic Commons. “We look forward to other early adopters in the private sector stepping up to join them in taking real action on the urgent housing need throughout our state by investing in this game-changing work.”