Spokanes shortage of low-income housing includes a proportionate dearth of living units for independent-living seniors.


Some low-income housing proponents now have their eyes on what could be a larger problem: affordable assisted-living units for low-income and very low-income seniors.


The biggest gap in need appears to be in the area of affordable assisted living for seniors, says Arlene Patton, Spokane-based field-office director for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.


People often need to move out of independent living into some type of assisted living, Patton says. There may be a greater demand for that next level.


Marj Dahlstrom, executive director of the Spokane Low-Income Housing Consortium, says that the Spokane area has about 1,970 affordable independent-living units for seniors. Those units meet roughly 40 percent of demand, which HUD estimates at about 4,950 low-income senior households.


The need might not be as great as those numbers suggest, though, because seniors can rent subsidized units that arent specifically earmarked for the elderly, Dahlstrom says. There is demand for affordable senior housing, but its no greater than the overall demand for affordable housing by all age groups, she says.


Whats unclear is the demand for affordable assisted living, Dahlstrom says.


Tim Sovold, Seattle-based manager of the compliance and preservation division of the Washington state Housing Finance Commission, says the need for affordable assisted-living quarters is growing statewide.


Im not sure we have an answer for that, Sovold says. Youd almost have to have additional funds allocated especially for that purpose.


He says available funding sources for subsidized housing are finite and cant meet current demand for independent-living units, much less be spread into the assisted-living market.


A report published last month by Moodys Investors Service, of New York, says that many state housing finance agencies have tried to spur development of affordable assisted-living units, but have struggled to coordinate the subsidies and programs for both housing and health care required for such units.


Assisted living remains out of reach for most low-income seniors and largely serves private-pay residents, the report says.


It says some states are considering adapting current subsidized facilities into partial assisted-living centers.


Sovold says that in Washington state, any effort to develop affordable assisted-living housing likely would need to include legislative action.


Currently, much of the effort to provide affordable housing for seniors both in Spokane and statewide involves not only developing more low-income units but also retaining existing ones.


One of the primary methods for funding low-income housing involves giving tax credits to developers who provide fixed-rent units, and Sovold says many of those agreements have been expiring in recent years. In some cases, apartment building owners want to sell their facilities or convert them into market-rate units when their tax credits expire.


The bottom line is that were still running short on affordable housing, Sovold says. There still is a net loss.


In the Spokane market, nonprofits have been able to minimize that problem by purchasing low-income complexes that are in danger of becoming market rate and thus preserving them as affordable housing, Dahlstrom says.


There are a couple (of apartment buildings) here each year that are not sold to nonprofits, and the owner decides to make them market rate, but thats not the norm, she says. Its hard to say if were losing ground or gaining ground.


In the independent-living market for low-income seniors, at least one developer has found success with projects here.


National Church Residences, a Columbus, Ohio-based nonprofit organization that has 250 low-income senior-housing projects in 27 states, has developed seven independent-living complexes for seniors with a total of 332 affordable-living units in the Spokane-Coeur dAlene area over the past five years. The organization has a seventh such center under construction in the Sandpoint area, and it plans to develop one in Deer Park and to expand two in Spokane Valley later this year (see related story, page A3).


Joe Kasberg, Columbus-based vice president and chief financial officer of the organization, says demand for affordable senior living in the Inland Northwest market is almost unlimited. All of the nonprofits complexes here are fully occupied and have been so since shortly after they opened.


With everything weve had over there, the day you open the doors you have people waiting to get in, he says.


National Church Residences doesnt operate any low-income assisted-living facilities, but Kasberg says the organizations complexes offer several services to assist its residents.