At the September 19 Vashon-Maury Community Council (V-MCC) meeting, listening to testimony about a resolution to support the Seattle Indian Health Board’s Thunderbird Treatment Center, I couldn’t help being captivated by the heartfelt and compassionate testimony of so many islanders.

Although the public comment weighed heavily in favor of the treatment center, those who disagreed were not afraid to express their opinions as well. This was due in no small part to the masterful, kind, and courteous facilitation of our board president, Diane Emerson. It showed how a single person can enable a discussion in which all are minding their better natures.

Many who spoke said they loved Vashon not just for its beauty, but even more for the kindness and humanity of their Vashon neighbors.

This positivity and open-minded communication is needed in another arena: Housing affordability.

As a founder of Vashon HouseHold thirty years ago and the chair of the current Affordable Housing Committee for V-MCC, I sometimes despair at our ongoing inability to provide decent affordable housing for all our people. Certainly, we have people that are not able to take care of themselves, and it will always be that way. But most are employed full-time and still struggle.

Some of us can afford a Mercedes, but most of us drive Chevrolets. We all know that either car will do all that we need it to do, just as a smaller less fancy house can provide a happy home.

Unfortunately, our real estate market makes no distinction between the two: all we have are Mercedes. There is enough demand in the Vashon housing market that all homes, regardless of size and quality, are bid out of the range of so many of our local service workers, educators and caregivers, and our children looking for a home for their young families. Nor are there many homes for sale at the lower range of current values on our islands.

It is now virtually impossible for a person earning the median income for a Vashon resident ($47,700 for an individual and $103,000 for a household) to purchase, unassisted, a home on Vashon-Maury Island. There are 200 households waiting for an opening in the 88 units now existing in the Vashon HouseHold stock. Many of our renters are paying more than half of their income on housing and utilities. And the housing market and employee incomes are trending further and further apart.

Wages have risen some, but home values have doubled in the last ten years to a median value of $875,000. Renting a median-price one bedroom unit ($3200/month) on a $25/hour wage will require 78% of one’s income. What you might think of as a “pretty good” wage doesn’t even come close to making housing affordable here.

Market values will keep rising and available land for properly zoned new housing is decreasing. That means the solution to our housing crisis must protect affordable housing from market appreciation. We also need to provide affordable homes without endangering the long-term environmental sustainability or the character of our island.

We have a lot of people who care about our community. We support the Vashon-Maury Island Land Trust in its mission to protect our natural areas. We’re generous with our money for schools, nature, and the arts. We love our heritage sites, such as The Vashon Island Coffee Roasterie and the Minglement, Mukai Farm & Garden, Harbor Mercantile, and so many other historical places.

It seems to me that we could put the same effort into housing our neighbors in a way that also enhances the attractiveness of our community.

Right now, new ideas are being explored.

Vashon HouseHold’s new Home Share program matches up homeowners with prospective tenants. People get housed without needing to build new dwellings, and Vashon HouseHold supervises the relationships. They have already set up more than 30 matches.

Our V-MCC Affordable Housing Committee is working on incentivizing the building of Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs). You can find resources on building them at v-mcc.org/vashonadu. Developer and new island resident Fred Jordan will host a free webinar on ADUs and other related projects on Oct. 10 — learn more or sign up at tinyurl.com/VashonADUwebinar.

If fixing our housing crisis intrigues you, please consider joining the Affordable Housing Committee. Maybe you have a wild idea to harness financial or labor resources in our community. We’re looking for ideas that we can pass on to the community, the county, and Vashon HouseHold. You don’t need to have any particular expertise to join our effort.

Together, we can help people make ends meet on Vashon. Contact me!

Terry Sullivan is the chair of the Affordable Housing Committee for the Vashon-Maury Community Council. He can be reached at terry.sullivan46@gmail.com.