Thinking outside the box on housing
Let me begin by saying that I firmly believe we have a missing element in our current housing strategy here in Kalispell. Rental and housing costs are still too steep to enable people to live here easily if they are pursuing work in the service industry, the teaching and medical professions, law enforcement and so on.
It can also be difficult to build back up after a financial hardship. If folks are starting their employment journey after high school or college that is a season where it can be strenuous and stressful, and high housing costs just add to that stress.
Something we have moved away from and forgotten over time could prove to be very effective at this particular time. Boarding houses and communal living environments, which are roughly equivalent to the modern PadSplit model or co-living would be a fabulous answer to our present situation coupled with renting a room from local homeowners. These solutions are starting to emerge again around the country as housing has moved out of reach for so many.
The online platform known as PadSplit is "for renting rooms in a shared house with regular, all-inclusive payments, aimed at providing long term affordable housing." Co-living is a type of shared housing arrangement in which a community of occupants live together in a shared residence with both communal living spaces and private living quarters.
Historically for the first 150 years of our country, roughly 30% of the American population lived in boarding houses or rented rooms from homeowners. These solutions enabled people to move to areas where work was available, and obtain an affordable place to live as they saved up to move into their own apartment or purchase their starter home.
To help curb Kalispell's housing crisis, co-living and PadSplit along with renting out a room in one's house to supplement one's income as well as the tiny home movement (which is just a fraction of the cost of much larger homes) are all feasible methods to provide housing to people with limited budgets and a piece of the answer to the problem which we are all seeking to solve.
Currently we have some building standards and codes that need to be adjusted to allow for traditional boarding houses that feature communal bathrooms, kitchens and shared areas (hence the modern term co-living). However, I want people to know that I have been working with city staff to identify these obstacles so that we can, as a city, make this alternative housing available to builders, landlords, investors and homeowners to undertake and implement.
Having these solutions in our available toolset will also aid people striving to elevate themselves out of homelessness. This is the missing piece of the puzzle between remedies such as the Samaritan House or A Ray of Hope to the renting of an apartment.
It’s a big jump from those great nonprofit solutions to renting one's own apartment. These solutions span that gap. All of these options are a far better answer than subsidized housing which subsequently traps people in poverty as they cannot increase their income or they will lose their housing. It's an endless cycle of poverty that relies on government programs which only cement people to their current income.
As your next mayor of Kalispell, I will do my very best to help our housing crisis by relentlessly pursuing this and other innovative options for our community. Everyone deserves to live within their means and as safely and comfortably as possible.
The final step in this progression is to get to the point where people possess the ability to rent an apartment or purchase a starter home through hard work and patience thus achieving self-reliance.
Sid Daoud is a Kalispell city councilor and mayoral candidate.