SEATTLE — Every part of Barbara Peraza-Garcia and her family’s one-bedroom apartment in Seattle serves double or even triple duty.
The 17 square meter room is filled with an air mattress where she, her partner and their children, aged 2 and 4, sleep. It is also the place where they play or watch TV. During meals it becomes their dining room.
It is a heavy burden for the families of asylum seekers from Venezuela. But at $900 a month – more than $550 less than the average Seattle studio – the micro-apartment with a bare bathroom and a shared kitchen fell just within their budget and gave them a quick exit from their previous arrangement, sleeping on the floor of a church.
“It’s warm. We can cook for ourselves. We have our own bathroom. It’s quiet,” said Peraza-Garcia, whose family came to the US to escape crime in Venezuela and gained access to essential medicine to treat cysts. to fight her kidney. “We can be here now as a family.”
In the early 20th century, there were many boarding schools in the US that rented single rooms to low-income workers, laborers, or temporary workers. These are known as single-family homes (SROs) and began disappearing in the post-war years due to urban renewal efforts and a focus on suburban single-family homes.
Now the concept is resurfacing – trendyly named “micro-apartment” and aimed at a much wider range of residents – as cities beset by rising homelessness struggle to make housing more affordable.
“If you’re single and want a cheap place to live, that’s as cheap as you can get without trying to find a subsidized apartment,” said Dan Bertolet, senior director of housing and urban planning for the nonprofit research center Sightline Institute.
The Pacific Northwest is leading the revival of this form of affordable housing. Oregon passed a bill last year that opened the door to micro-apartments and Washington state lawmakers did the same this year, beginning to remove red tape that for years has limited construction of the small units, which account for about a third be the size of an average studio. apartment.
Washington’s bill, which was signed this week by Democratic Gov. Jay Inslee after receiving near-unanimous support in the Legislature, would require most cities to include micro-apartments in residential buildings with at least six allow units. It will come into effect at the end of 2025.
The legislation is an effort to combat skyrocketing housing prices and, in the Seattle area, one of the nation’s highest homelessness rates, as well as a critical housing shortage.
Extremely low-income renters — those who are below the federal poverty guidelines or earn 30% of the region’s median income — face a shortage of 7.3 million affordable rental units, according to a report from the National Low Income Housing Coalition that last week was published. Such households account for 11 million – or almost a quarter – of renters nationwide, the report said.
Rep. Mia Gregerson, who sponsored the Washington bill, said she predicts the measure will lead to thousands of homes being built in her state, providing unsubsidized, affordable housing for everyone, from young people getting their first apartments and seniors downsizing to people who come from the physical world. or mental health care.
“The government cannot close that gap alone; she must allow for-profit and market-rate housing to be built at the same time,” said Gregerson, a Democrat.
The U.S. lost hundreds of thousands of SROs in the last half of the 20th century as associations with poverty and substandard housing led to restrictive zoning laws. Some cities have banned their construction altogether — a loss that some housing experts say has contributed to the homelessness crisis.
Faced with that crisis and a critical housing shortage, cities and states across the country are now changing their stance.
In December, as her state grappled with a massive influx of migrants, New York Governor Kathy Hochul announced a $50 million program aimed at repairing and renovating 500 SROs across the state. New York City lost at least 70,000 such units between the turn of the 20th century and 2014, according to a report from New York University’s Furman Center.
But there are concerns that this type of affordable housing is not ideal for a particularly vulnerable group: families.
There are more than 3,800 unhoused families with children in the Seattle area, one of the highest in the country, according to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s overnight 2023 count.
Cities should focus on building affordable housing that includes larger units such as studios and one-bedroom apartments, said Marisa Zapata, a professor of land use planning at Portland State University.
“My biggest concern is that we will see them as the solution and not do the right thing for our community members by building the housing that people want,” she said of micro-apartments.
The bill passed by Oregon lawmakers last year would require local governments to allow single occupancy rooms in areas zoned for residential use. The provision came into effect on January 1.
Central City Concern, a Portland-based homeless services nonprofit, rents more than 1,000 SRO units – both subsidized and not – to people considered extremely low-income. It helps people who have difficulty accessing housing due to things like eviction histories and poor credit scores.
The units have an average rent of $550 per month, making them an “essential option” for people who are homeless or living on fixed incomes, such as people with disabilities, said Sarah Holland, senior director of supportive housing and employment. More than 80% of renters were previously homeless, she said, and some have lived in their homes for 30 years.
“As costs continue to rise in Portland, this gives them an opportunity to stay in their homes,” she said.
Cheyenne Welbourne moved into one of the nonprofit’s micro-apartments in downtown Portland last March after years of living on the streets. The room, with a closed toilet and sink, is just large enough for a single bed, a chair and a television. But for him, it’s a cherished home that he has decorated with colorful lights, potted plants and action figures. He uses the small kitchenette, equipped with an induction hob, to make the tea he likes to drink.
“All I had was just me and my backpack, and that was it,” he said. “I was just happy to be here and not have to spend another winter there.”
“I just want a house, you know? A nice house, a decent house.”
Some experts hope the Pacific Northwest will inspire more states to take similar steps.
“The alternatives are… people in shelters, people on the streets, people being doubled, tripled, quadrupled,” said Vicki Been, faculty director of New York University’s Furman Center and a law professor.
For Peraza-Garcia’s Seattle family, living in the same complex as their cousins and within walking distance of grocery stores, a park and preschools is rewarding. They plan to spend the next year in the micro-apartment and then move to a larger place if they can get good-paying jobs.
“We are happy because we are here in a quiet place where we can be together as a family,” she said.
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Associated Press reporter Manuel Valdes in Seattle contributed to this report.