Spokane County's housing crisis is now at a tipping point that demands bold thinking. For years, affordable housing discussions have centered on building more apartments. While rental housing will always play an important role in meeting community needs, it's time to recognize that affordable homeownership can deliver greater long-term value — for families, neighborhoods, and taxpayers. 

One of the key factors driving this renewed direction is simple: the cost of construction. In many cases, the costs of developing subsidized apartments per square foot is substantially more than the cost of building a modest single-family home or townhome designed for first-time buyers. Yet, there is a new case to be made that single-family homes and townhouses can actually be built cheaper.

Developer Jim Frank, of Liberty Lake-based Greenstone Corp., has demonstrated what's possible. Partnering with Habitat for Humanity, Greenstone helped construct the Highland Village Cottage Homes in Airway Heights for about $175 per square foot. The result was quality, attainable homes built for roughly half the cost of a recently completed subsidized apartment project in Spokane County. 

The lesson is clear: When communities prioritize small homes on small lots, they can often provide more families with the opportunity to own a home while stretching public housing dollars further. 

Homeownership changes lives 

As Realtors, we see the ways homeownership changes people’s lives. Owning a home gives families the opportunity to build wealth, establish roots, and create stability that can last for generations. National data consistently shows that homeowners accumulate significantly greater household wealth than renters, providing financial security and opportunities that can be passed on to future generations. 

Research also associates homeownership with several key positive outcomes, including: 

• Greater family stability: Families who remain in one home longer often experience lower stress levels, while children benefit from greater educational continuity, improved academic performance, and higher graduation rates.
• Stronger neighborhoods: Homeowners are more likely to invest in maintaining their property, participate in civic life, volunteer, and vote, helping create stronger and more connected communities.
• Improved health outcomes: Multiple studies have found associations between homeownership and better physical and mental health, including lower mortality rates compared with renters after accounting for many demographic factors.
• Stable relationships: Research from the AEI Housing Center has found that married homeowners experience greater marital stability than similarly situated renters.

These outcomes matter because housing policy should not simply be about providing shelter; it should create a framework of opportunity for families to thrive. 

Housing policy should also reflect what people want, as well as need. In a recent Spokane County housing preference survey by Spokane Realtors, 68% of respondents indicated they want a three-bedroom, two-bathroom home on a small lot. That figure is consistent with surveys by Spokane Realtors for more than three decades. 

Because our families continue to strive for homeownership, our policies must work towards making this aspiration within their reach. 

Supply matters

The rapid increase in housing prices throughout Spokane County is fundamentally a supply problem. For too many years, we have not built enough homes to meet demand. As available housing has fallen further behind population growth, prices have continued to rise, making homeownership increasingly difficult for working families. This trend is expected to continue unless we expand opportunities for new housing. 

National Association of Realtors Chief Economist, Lawrence Yun, warns that communities with constrained housing supplies, such as Spokane County, could experience dramatic increases in home prices over the coming decades. With housing policies, such as the Growth Management Act, restricting home construction, Yun predicts that in 25 years the median price of a home here will likely reach $1.2 million. 

While that seems hard to believe, consider that Spokane County's median home value in 2000 was about $120,000. While today, a median priced home is $434,000.  

If current trends continue, homeownership will become increasingly unattainable for today's young families. Can you imagine how kids today will be facing downpayments of tens of thousands, with a mortgage debt in excess of $1 million? 

We should all be concerned.

A better path forward

This is not an argument against apartments. Spokane County needs rental housing to serve students, seniors, workforce mobility, and families at different stages of life. But affordable housing policy shouldn't stop there. 

We should also prioritize the construction of attainable single-family homes, townhomes, and cottage housing that allows working families to become homeowners. When public investments can help twice as many families achieve stable housing while creating long-term wealth and stronger neighborhoods, those opportunities deserve serious consideration. 

At Spokane Realtors, we have joined builders, developers, housing providers, and community leaders to advance practical solutions that increase housing supply and expand opportunities for homeownership. The housing crisis will not be solved with a single strategy. It will require communities willing to build more housing of every type — and to recognize that creating opportunities for homeownership remains one of the most effective investments we can make in the future of Spokane County. 

Now is the time to build not just more housing, but to build more opportunities for everyone.

Lee McIntyre is managing broker at Coldwell Banker Tomlinson and president of the 2,400-member Spokane Realtors Association. He can be reached at 509.919.1599 or [email protected].