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1 of 3 Premium Clicks used this month SUBSCRIBE Print + Online Subscriber Activation | Register x Forgot Password | Need an Account? e-edition | subscribe | newsletter | deals Home News Latest Stories Jackson County residents join committees to help set marijuana rules Man hits bull elk at 68 mph on I-5 Out with the old Pioneer Mike, in with the new Trail man pleads guilty to federal weapons charges in bizarre drugs and guns case Hedrick principal to take helm at North Medford Crime, Courts and Emergency Services Trail man pleads guilty to federal weapons charges in bizarre drugs and guns case Emergency Services, May 5 Man arrested after spitting on cars Emergency Services, May 4 Emergency services, May 3 Politics and Elections Pacific Connector Gas Pipeline opponents rally in Medford BREAKING: Baltimore prosecutor charges officers in Freddie Gray's death Earthquakes hit regularly in Medford (Oklahoma, that is) Medford School Board, Position 6: Curt Ankerberg vs. Janet Lightheart Arthur I. Cyr: Cuba’s enduring challenge to American foreign policy – and American politics Education Hedrick principal to take helm at North Medford More kindergartners vaccinated in 2015 Elementary students honor local police officers Levy backers eye final push Two seats contested on Central Point School Board Environment State waives college placement tests for students who hit high marks Stopping fire in its tracks Pacific Connector Gas Pipeline opponents rally in Medford Earthquakes hit regularly in Medford (Oklahoma, that is) Residents say armed mine supporters sully Josephine County's reputation State News ACLU touts video app for people recording police Volunteers battle invasive plant in Southern Oregon OSU warns that Benton County GMO ban could hurt research Oregon gun sale background check bill heads to governor PERS ruling means tough choices for state and local lawmakers Nation - World There's a $10 million precious stone hidden in plain sight at Grand Central Tsarnaev convicted on all charges in Boston Marathon bombing Obituaries Milton (Mick) Laverne Cady Connie Leigh Doolittle (Barber) R. Charles "Charlie" Snyder Dennis Clark Robert Louis Elliott Weather Photo Galleries Since You Asked Videos Web Cams Mail Tribune 100 Shareable Sports Latest Stories South girls qualify for regional tourney Griffin's triple-double powers Clippers Rangers end Astros' win streak McIlroy is at the top of his game Woman seeking man she kissed hears from wife Varsity 541 College Sports Craig, Randall earn conference honors Spring has sprung, but work isn't done Raiders' Abbott breaks 22-year-old record Dodge signs as free agent with Falcons Lockie stands out in Ducks' spring game Pro Sports Griffin's triple-double powers Clippers Rangers end Astros' win streak McIlroy is at the top of his game Brewers turn to Counsell as new manager Warriors' Curry takes home MVP honor Community Sports Bailey picks up modified win Wilson delivers in return of local boxing Palmer breezes to second straight men’s title Business Latest Stories Single-family home sales take off Blog: Feeling like a few days in Italy? Medford/Jackson County Chamber has trip planned just for you Cars We Remember: Car enthusiast wishes new model designs were ‘more different’ Women's Leadership Conference prompts Lithia's own version Ride & Drive: 2015 Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat Real Estate News Single-family home sales take off Never enough: New Starbucks proposed on Barnett Road in Medford Jackson County debt-ridden homeowners have an option New home in an old house Naumes plans custom-crush winery in former packing house People In Business Transportation Erickson finds room to work at Medford airport Lithia Motors nets $40.7 million in first quarter Lithia Motors reports second-best quarter ever Business briefs Medford airport's record run continues Agriculture 1-800Flowers.com reports $10.5 million loss in third quarter Naumes plans custom-crush winery in former packing house New bosses take charge at Harry & David Dancin Vineyards covers up Opinion Latest Our View: Oregon's full of givers, and can use more Letters to the Editor, May 5 Michael Gerson: The intricate knot of urban poverty Rick Holmes: The war we’d rather forget John Floyd: Fraternities’ actions toward veterans abhorrent Editorials Our View: Oregon's full of givers, and can use more Our View: Our picks for Medford School Board Other Views: Gun-bill recalls misguided, futile Our View: Bill gives ex-convicts a glimmer of hope Our View: Medical marijuana market not at risk Letters to the Editor Letters to the Editor, May 5 Letters to the Editor, May 4 Letters to the Editor, May 3 Letters to the Editor, May 2 Letters to the Editor, May 1 Columns Michael Gerson: The intricate knot of urban poverty Kathleen Parker: Wife of the party Dana Milbank: Clinton's opponents need to smoke her out George Will: The Lusitania's role in history Charles Krauthammer: Men wielding power in hellish times Guest Opinions Guest Opinion: Animal-killing program pulls wool over taxpayers' eyes Guest Opinion: Uniting to restore our sovereignty to we, the people Guest Opinion: This Earth Day, we celebrate the Northwest Forest Plan The Medford School Board was wrong: 'American Pageant' is a political agenda, not history The Medford School Board was right: 'American Pageant' is a fine book, and the board did its homework Lifestyle Latest stories Suzette Martinez Standring: The maternal staircase Go Ask Alice: Those were the days Cars We Remember: Car enthusiast wishes new model designs were ‘more different’ Food for Thought: Protein-packed meals and snacks Dear Monty: Water rights of property owners Food Food for Thought: Protein-packed meals and snacks Prudence Hilburn: Chocolate chips make cookies delightful Andrea Honaker: Mexican-inspired dips for Cinco de Mayo Set a table from your local farmers market Let's do brunch! Home and Garden Dear Monty: Water rights of property owners Paul Rogers: ‘Living’ mulches a healthy alternative to bark Heirloom tomatoes bring ageless flavor Betty Montgomery: You can have a variety of ferns in your garden Clean out household chemicals Friday and Saturday Health Search on for new medical provider for Butte Falls, Prospect clinics Dr. Murray Feingold: Turn down that noise Health Watch: Pack your pantry with healthy items HealthStyle: It’s all in the family dinner 'Game changer' for heart patients Hiking Biking Faith Religion Briefs: Friday, May 1 Religion Briefs: Friday, April 24 Religion Briefs: Friday, April 17 Religion briefs: Friday, April 10 Milestones and Achievements Wedding: Melody Ann Madi and Lyman Martin Stiles Engagement: Anders-Stanley ENGAGEMENT: Sellers-James Witham's birthday bash draws hundreds for 1950s prices Charlesworth-Murphy Columnist for a Day Rogue Healthy Aging Tempo Latest stories Ashland Blues Society hosts open blues jam tonight in Talent Page Hamilton comes home REVIEW: Carson, Patton shine in 'Arsenic and Old Lace' 5 picks for live entertainment Live Music in Local Clubs Theater REVIEW: Randall Theatre's 'Little Shop of Horrors' a rollicking good time REVIEW: Carson, Patton shine in 'Arsenic and Old Lace' Some Oregon Shakespeare Festival crew members seek to unionize Randall Theatre stages 'Little Shop of Horrors' 'Much Ado' at SOU Music Ashland Blues Society hosts open blues jam tonight in Talent Page Hamilton comes home Thunder's Edge, Steel Cranes tonight at Club 66 The Farr Side: CMAs do it right, in many ways Live Music in Local Clubs Community Events Hip-Hop Poetry Open Mic at OSF's Black Swan in Ashland Ashland's First Friday Art Walk showcases new exhiits by regional artists Master Gardener Spring Fair at The Expo A Taste of Ashland pairs food and wine at galleries Rogue Valley Earth Day 2015 Movies Victor D. Infante: ‘Avengers’ begs the questions, ‘Why superheroes, and why now?’ Movie review: ‘Avengers: Age of Ultron’ has a lot going on Movie review: ‘Avengers: Age of Ultron’ knows how to party Catching up with the Avengers Interview: Sofia Vergara talks ‘Hot Pursuit’ Dining Restaurant inspections, May 3, 2015 Taqueria Picaro offers casual Mexican cuisine Restaurant inspections: April 26, 2015 Island Grindz serves up Hawaiian specialties Have you wandered down the Bear Creek Wine Trail yet? Tempo Videos Classifieds Jobs Autos Real Estate FEATURED » Obits Blogs TV Listings Movie Listings Oregon Outdoors Oregon Healthy Living Special Sections Business Services NEWS NOW ACLU touts video app for people recording police ... Volunteers battle invasive plant in Southern Oregon ... Jackson County residents join committees to help set marijuana rules ... ACLU touts video app for people recording police ... Volunteers battle invasive plant in Southern Oregon ... Jackson County residents join committees to help set marijuana rules ... SUNDAY FOCUS: AFFORDABLE HOUSING Rental crisis in Jackson County looms as housing costs outpace wages You've got a job, now you need a place you can afford. Good luck. Comment By John Darling for the Mail Tribune MailTribune.com By John Darling for the Mail Tribune Posted May. 3, 2015 at 12:01 AM By John Darling for the Mail Tribune Posted May. 3, 2015 at 12:01 AM --> Resources for housing assistance: • Housing Authority of Jackson County, 2231 Table Rock Road, Medford, 541-779-5785, ... » Read more X Resources for housing assistance: • Housing Authority of Jackson County, 2231 Table Rock Road, Medford, 541-779-5785, www.hajc.net. • ACCESS Inc., 3630 Aviation Way, Medford, 541-779-9020, www.accesshelps.org. • Salvation Army, 922 N. Central Ave., Medford, 541-773-6965, http://www1.usw.salvationarmy.org/usw/www_usw_medford.nsf. • St Vincent de Paul,  2424 N. Pacific Highway, Medford,  541-772-3828, http://www.stvincentdepaulmedford.info/ • Upper Rogue Community Center, 22465 Highway 62, Shady Cove, 541-878-2702, find URCC on Facebook » Social News After recently arriving in the Rogue Valley from Oklahoma to take on new jobs, Joe and Vanessa Peterson, in their late 20s and parents of two toddlers, say they find the area delightful except for one thing: There's no place to live. They slept in their SUV a few nights. “Better than sleeping on a bench,” says Joe, a Marine veteran. Every few hours, they surfed Craigslist, want-ads and other rental websites, but found nothing available that fit their budget, says Vanessa, a retail clerk. “It’s very stressful, coming in as an outsider,” Joe says. “We don’t know where to look or the websites, but people at work have helped us a lot.” Before they received their wages, they were eligible for help from ACCESS Inc. The Medford-based nonprofit agency got them a motel room and covered the first month's rent and deposit. For a three-bedroom, rental homes run from $950 to $1,800 a month, they say. They finally found a rental home for $795 a month in Prospect, 44 miles northeast of Medford, closer to Joe’s work as a member of a hand crew with the U.S. Forest Service. In Central Point, retired medical consultant Barbara Johnson, 67, is living in her daughter's rental apartment, which costs $685 a month. Johnson qualified for a federally backed loan of $175,000 but can find nothing in that range to purchase. “It’s horrible,” she says. “Most are so inflated now, nothing under $200,000. It’s very disappointing. We’ve been at it for a year and the agents won't help us.” With a three-year rental waiting list at Jackson County Housing Authority and a 1.89 percent vacancy rate for rentals, Jackson County is facing a serious rental crisis, perhaps the worst in decades, housing officials say. “There’s a big gap, a big need,” says Scott Foster, executive director of the Housing Authority, which owns and develops rentals for low-income residents. “We have 4,000 people on our waiting list and they’re having a darn tough time. They sleep in cars. Some are homeless. It takes three years to get to the top of the list. It’s really tight and it’s that way now in most communities.” The Housing Authority offers more than 2,200 housing vouchers and rents out 1,300 units of affordable housing. They add about 50 new units a year. With a tight market comes “upward pressure on rent,” Foster says, meaning rentals are not only scarce but increasingly unaffordable. “It’s the same all along the I-5 corridor," he says, adding with a twist of irony, "To find a rental, you have to go where there are no jobs.” “We have something approaching a crisis," says Jackie Schad, executive director of ACCESS. "Demand for apartments and rental housing is high — and you have people not making a lot of money. We have a big minimum-wage workforce here.” Ideally, a family should spend no more than a third of its income on housing. But Schad says some Jackson County residents are paying up to 70 percent of their wages. The state's Temporary Aid for Needy Families offers some financial help, but it often isn't enough. "A mom might get a grant of $500 but a one-bedroom goes for $600 to $700," says Schad. A minimum-wage worker would find it difficult to make up the difference while also putting food on the table, paying the electric bill, funding child care, etc. "The problem is wages," Schad says. Much of the cause for the housing crunch can be laid at the feet of the Great Recession, which brought new construction to a standstill from which it is only now just emerging. Mark Nichols, president of the Southern Oregon Rental Owners Association, says the crunch has been compounded by consumer protection measures that were put in place after the real estate collapse and resulting epidemic of foreclosures. Those measures put limits on what people can buy or borrow for homes or investment rentals. “Investors can’t invest,” says Nichols. “They’re not able to buy rentals and relieve the glut of foreclosures in the hands of banks. This situation would be over and we’d have a normal selling market if not for that. There are so many requirements now it’s almost impossible to get a loan.” The scarcity of rental properties, he adds, means landlords are “in the position to charge what the market can bear." "If you’re talking to a renter, there are 20 people standing behind him," Nichols says. In Medford, a typical three-bedroom, two-bathroom house runs $900 to $1,175 a month. “And you can rent them all day long,” Nichols says.  Some are as low as $500 to $600 a month but, of course, he says, you get what you pay for. Contributing to the rental crisis, says Schad, was the tsunami of foreclosures that started in 2008 and turned thousands of buyers into renters. “They soaked up all the available supply of rental units and that drove up the price," she says. The issue is not unique to the Rogue Valley. "It’s become a crisis all over Oregon and there are fewer and fewer resources to deal with it," says Alison McIntosh, of Oregon Housing and Community Services, the affordable housing agency in Salem. The Legislature is attempting to at least partially address that with a proposed $100 million bonding program for new, affordable housing for families with children. First proposed by former Gov. John Kitzhaber, it has remained a priority in Gov. Kate Brown’s agenda and will get a hearing in a Ways and Means subcommittee this month, says McIntosh. If passed, it could fund 3,000 to 4,000 new units to house 12,000 to 16,000 people, Oregon Housing and Community Services estimates. ACCESS just got a $6 million grant from the Department of Veterans Affairs to assist with housing for veterans and their families, but that will put only a dent in the demand. "We can’t build our way out of this," Schad says. "There’s even a waiting list to get on the waiting list at the Housing Authority. The move-in deposits are several thousand dollars, a real challenge. “What are we doing? We’re going to churches, civic organizations. We’re seeking mother-in-law units that could be rented. A lot of people have something for rent. We’re asking them about creating a one-room efficiency (studio) apartment. Those have pretty much disappeared but we need them back. We’ve got many motels on the strip. Could we turn them into residences? We’re looking for sellers right now.” The days when large tracts of middle-class homes were built largely have disappeared as contractors turn to more profitable upscale neighborhoods. “I can’t speak for society," Schad says, "but traditionally we did things like tract housing, mortgage tax deductions and other funding that has now dried up. “The real solution,” says Schad, “is that society makes a commitment to housing people. Salt Lake City did it. Phoenix did it. They decided, ‘We’re going to do it’ and they did it. We can, too.” John Darling is an Ashland freelance writer. Reach him at [email protected].   By John Darling for the Mail Tribune MailTribune.com By John Darling for the Mail Tribune Posted May. 3, 2015 at 12:01 AM » Comment or view comments Reader Reaction » STAY INFORMED Email NewsLetter Sign Up Today Sign up for our newsletter and have the top headlines from your community delivered right to your inbox. calendar Connect with MailTribune.com Facebook Twitter RSS Back to top Reader Services Reader Services Home Subscriptions Subscriber controls Contact us Submissions Photos Events Letters to the editor Corrections Announcements Obituaries Story ideas Since you asked Alerts Email Alerts RSS Feeds Text Alerts Advertise Media Kit Home Products and services Ad rates Advertising contacts Propel Marketing Mail Tribune Daily Tidings The Nickel Shop Our Valley Blogs Stay Informed Email newsletter Sign Up Today Sign up for our newsletter and have the top headlines from your community delivered right to your inbox. 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