Bow Lake Park is a 479 unit manufactured/mobile home community in SeaTac Washington.  For many years, Bow Lake has been known as a well-established affordable housing option for senior citizens. Seniors choose to move to Bow Lake so they can age in place. As a manufactured/mobile home community, residents own their homes and pay lot rent to the park management. Up until recently, these rents have been reasonable even for residents living on low fixed incomes such as Social Security or disability. However, in the past several years, the rents have jumped up by $40-60/month each year, leading to monthly rents that exceed the monthly income for low income residents. 

The housing situation in King County is literally in a state of crisis. Nearby Seattle several years ago officially declared a state of emergency regarding homelessness. According to research conducted by Zillow, "It’s well documented that there’s a connection between escalating rents and growing numbers of people experiencing homelessness. With this new research, we quantify that effect in 25 major metro areas. We found that in four metros currently experiencing a crisis in homelessness — Los Angeles, New York, Washington, D.C., and Seattle – the relationship between rising rents and increased homelessness is particularly strong." The dramatic increase in rents at Bow Lake is already causing stress-related health issues and the inability to buy groceries or make home repairs among vulnerable senior citizens living on fixed incomes. Residents fear homelessness or premature death.

There is a desperate need for affordable housing in King County. Bow Lake has been an affordable option for King County seniors for many decades. We should be working to preserve affordable housing. We want Bow Lake Park management to work with the residents to come up with reasonable accommodations to keep low income senior citizens in their homes.