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PACAB
Jan 19 (WS)
Feb 2 (Mtg)
Feb 16 (WS)
March 2 (Mtg)
March 2 (Mtg)
Presenter
Tara Reimer, ASLC
Nicole Lawrence, Seward Properties
Cathy LeCompte, AVTEC
Jena Peterson, Seward Real Estate, CAP Construction
Dr. Henry Burns, Seward High School
Summary of Tara Reimer's Presentation
The Alaska Sealife Center has considered building employee housing, but would
rather rent units than maintain their own housing. Seasonal housing is a separate
issue altogether and Tara is focusing on mainly year-round housing. Many of the
Sealife Center positions are specialized and require at least a bachelor's degree.
There have been multiple people turn down higher level jobs such as IT
department and Aquarium positions due to inability to find a place to rent/buy.
The people who come to work at the Sealife Center tend to be recently married
no kids or singles of all ages who are a bit more adventurous when it comes to
housing situations.
Summary of Nicole Lawrence's Presentation
Nicole works for Seward Properties. She would like to emphasize that she is a
data driven person, and does not like to make predictions or speculations. In the
past two years she has seen the price of houses break new records. There have
been 25 houses sold over the $400,000 mark. This is the first year in Seward
history that the median sales price has broken $300,000 mark. To afford a house
at the median price would require a yearly household income of about $84,000.
However, despite this sharp increase, the price of rentals has stayed roughly the
same over the past 11 years. Of those rentals, there is a 70% renewal rate each
year, which does not leave many new rental opportunities. Most people moving
to Seward like to rent first prior to buying a house.
Outside City Limits the land sales average jumped from $50,000/ acre to $100,000
/acre between 2018 to 2021. There is a lot less land available resulting in higher
prices. When building costs are high and land cost are high, people are more likely
to make offers on pre-existing homes. Nicole supports the idea of expanding City
utilities to make building more affordable and making City land available for
responsible development. Other cities are putting caps on limit of nightly rentals
to allow for more long-term rentals. She would like to see more zoning
enforcement to make sure nightly rentals are not operating illegally. Nicole would
like to see builders create high quality multiplexes for those who are coming here
to work at the Sealife Center/Hospital/Schools.
Summary of Cathy LeCompt's Presentation
Cathy is the director of AVTEC and currently has 68 employees in Seward. Half of
that number are instructors. Their dorm apartments meet their housing needs for
all AVTEC students. They are also are grandfathered into an agreement with the
Sealife Center seasonal staff to live there during the summers. AVTEC apartments
are roughly 50% full, but they do not have any plans to make the other 50%
available to the general public as AVTEC is not in the rental business. AVTEC
recruits state wide for specialists to move here to become instructors. Lack of
child care is currently a factor for families moving here.
Summary of Jena Peterson's Presentation
Jena works in the real estate business and owns two 12-unit complexes in town.
The housing crisis is nothing new to Seward as we have been dealing with this for
decades. There is no overnight solution or quick fix. Jena feels that it is not the
City's responsibility to fix the problem either. However, there are certain areas
the City can make some changes or work to streamline some processes for
building. This includes bringing utilities to properties so there's not additional
costs when buying vacant land.
The current cost of building a single-family house is $450,000 not even including
the land. Also, a construction loan requires 25% down. This high cost and upfront
payments are a huge deterrent to most people looking to build. Even if you did
have the money to make this happen, the current builders in town are booked 6-
months to a year out. Therefore, the market is looking more towards houses that
are already built and for sale. Unfortunately, there are only 3 homes for sale in
Seward right now in a very competitive market. The demand outweighs the
supply.
In regards to starting a new subdivision, it would be more attainable to find a way
to get 10 homes built and then turn around and sell them because it's more
feasible to get a loan this way then a construction loan.
Summary of Dr. Henry Burns' Presentation
Dr. Henry Burns moved here in July to take the job as High School Principal. He
spent the first month living in an RV and is now facing the end of his rental lease
which is booting him out to make way for summer nightly lodging.
Although Dr. Burns makes $100,000 a year he cannot seem to afford any of the
houses for sale in Seward. He has put offers on 5 houses and not even come close
to getting one. Most recently he put $100,000 over the asking price on the table
and still no luck. Burns has taken note that the 5 houses are currently sitting
empty as they will be used for summer rentals. Despite all this, he does not hold a
grudge against them because they are just trying to make money like everybody
else.
Most teachers here make in the range of $55-70k a year salary. Burns has had 6
teachers this year decline employment here due to housing issues. Other
teachers who do live here in the winter are ousted in the summer and then return
in the fall.
Dr. Burns is in talks with the superintendent about possible solutions. There is
vacant land where the old Middle School used to be that could potentially be a
site for housing. Currently they are discussing with AVTEC about the possibility of
teachers renting their student dorm apartments. Seward is not alone in this
housing crisis, in fact Homer is facing near identical situation.
Compiled by Kris Peck
Deputy City Clerk
March 2022