Housing in South Lake Tahoe: Is it affordable?

Many conversations around South Lake Tahoe center around affordable housing, but the community isn't alone in this topic.

According to HUD (Department of Housing and Urban Development), families who need affordable housing are those who pay more than 30 percent of their income for housing. This is considered cost burdened and they may have difficulty affording necessities such as food, clothing, transportation and medical care. An estimated 12 million renter and homeowner households now pay more than 50 percent of their annual incomes for housing in the United State. A family with one full-time worker earning the minimum wage cannot afford the local fair-market rent for a two-bedroom apartment anywhere in the United States.

Rental housing in South Lake Tahoe runs from converted motel rooms to apartments to homes, all with a wide range of rents.

If two people in the household earn $10 per hour, and if they work 40 hours a week, that is a pre-tax income of $3,400 a month. So, by HUD standards, they can afford a rent of $1,020. On Trulia.com, there are 21 places to rent in South Lake Tahoe today. 17 of those rent for more than $1,100 and the others are either studios or small, older apartments.

With the seasonal income of the South Shore, and with wages normally near minimum, people face a constant problem of finding affordable homes to rent.

Home ownership continues to get more and more out of reach for those working in South Lake Tahoe. The median price per square foot of a local home is now $279, which equates to $418,500 for a 1,500 square foot home. Houses under this price leave the market as soon as they are listed due to the increased demand.

Apartments and Mobile Home Parks not being replaced

Over the past 25 years, several places that offered affordable housing for South Lake Tahoe residents have been torn down and not replaced, and what remains is very often aged and in need of repair.

In the 1990s, aging motels, apartments and a timeshare resort and restaurant were removed in the Ski Run Marina area to make way for the first of the City's redevelopment projects. Also included was the relocation of McDonalds and a Chevron station. Where the current McDonalds now stands was once were apartment buildings which provided the community's lower income residents with a place to stay.

Water quality project at the bottom of Wildwood Avenue at Lake Tahoe Blvd removed aging motels and apartment living for several residents.

Homes at the Tahoe Shores Mobile Home Park at the end of Kahle Blvd were recently removed to make way for a project 14 years in the making.

A trailer park at the back of Inn by the Lake is being removed, with just four residents remaining in the area. The last of them will be gone by April of 2017 to make way for an unnamed project on the property owned by the resort.

Affordable housing projects built

The Aspens, Tahoe Senior Plaza, Bijou Woods, Evergreen Apartments, Kelly Ridge, Sierra Gardens, Sky Forest, Tahoe Pines and Tahoe Valley Townhomes are local projects with 340 units dedicated to low-income residents.

Workforce housing

Many housing authorities define workforce housing as homes aimed at households earning from 60 percent to 120 percent of the area's median income (AMI). In contrast, the term affordable housing is generally used for households whose income is less than 60 percent of AMI

From 2010-2014, the AMI for El Dorado County as a whole was $68,507, $41,380 in the City of South Lake Tahoe. When taking just the City limits, one would make between $24,828 and $49,656 to be in the "workforce housing" group, and under $24,828 to be in the "affordable housing" group.

When talking workforce in normally refers to those who are gainfully employed, a group of people who are not typically understood to be the target of affordable housing programs. Workforce housing is commonly targeted at "essential workers" in a community i.e. police officers, firemen, teachers, nurses, medical personnel. Some communities, like South Lake Tahoe, define "essential" more broadly to include service workers, as in the case of resort communities where one finds high real estate costs and a high number of low-paying service jobs essential to the local economy.

Vacation Rentals are not the problem

Vacation home rentals (VHRs) are the subject of many local meetings, and the hot topic in social media, yet many don't realize the small number of VHRs on the eastern portion of El Dorado County (East Slope) which include Meyers, Tahoma and South Lake Tahoe.

Even though an estimated 78 percent of the homes in South Lake Tahoe are owned by what is known as a second-home owner, under 12 percent are actual vacation rentals. The rest of the homes are used by the owners only, when they have a chance to come to the town they love to spend their recreation and vacation time in.

There are 17,900 single family homes on the East Slope, 920 duplex and triplex units, 302 multi-residential units in four-plexes or greater, 260 mobile homes, and 45 homes on lots of 2.5 acres or more.

There are also 2,604 vacant lots where one-to-three units may be built.

Not counting motel rooms being used as long-term rentals, there are currently 19,427 places people can call home, whether its permanently or on a part-time basis.

Between the City and County, there are just over 2,400 permitted VHRs. This means about 12 percent of the available properties are used for the purpose of renting out to vacationers, a popular trend across the country.

Public Forum to discuss Affordable Housing

The Tahoe Regional Young Professionals are hosting a Town Hall on the subject at the Tahoe Beach Retreat on Wednesday, August 17 from 6:00 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.

This a free event for the community to learn the facts and openly answer questions concerning issues in our community and its progress.

The first half of the event will feature local experts on affordable housing, how it impacts the community, and what is being done to address the issue.

Speakers:
Heidi Hill Drum, Tahoe Prosperity Center
Sara Schrichte, Tahoe Truckee Community Foundation
Nancy Kerry, City of South Lake Tahoe
Nick Haven, Tahoe Regional Planning Agency
Mark Irving, Urban Housing Communities

The first half of the event will be live streamed at: http://www.tahoetryp.org/member-benefits/civic-engagement/ . Stream provided by @TahoeProductionHouse. The following question and answer period will not be live streamed, so participation in-person is suggested.