Volunteers from MBAKS, Green Canopy Homes, and Rebuilding Together Seattle worked together recently to make Janice's home safer to live in.

Learn more about our community stewardship

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Media Contact:
Sharon Couts
Master Builders Association of King and Snohomish Counties
425.499.1723

Bellevue, Wash—June 22, 2016—The Master Builders Association of King and Snohomish Counties and Regence BlueShield will volunteer for Habitat for Humanity Seattle-King County's "La Fortuna" townhome community in Renton, a 3-Star Built Green® property. Volunteers will focus on unmasking floors, installing appliances, painting, and cleaning in preparation for the homeowner dedication on July 16, 2016. At that time, eight low-income families will receive the keys to their new homes and a better future.

La Fortuna residents will include U.S. military veterans, Americans who were once refugees from war-torn countries, and others who came to our region in search of a better life for their families. The future homeowners have worked together as friends and neighbors to help build and create this community.

Habitat for Humanity's vision of creating "a world where everyone has a decent place to live" is shared by the Master Builders Association of King and Snohomish Counties and Regence BlueShield. This vision, and the idea that affordable housing should be accessible to all families—including low-income, middle class, and those struggling with homelessness—has led Regence and the MBA to form ongoing partnerships with this organization.

Schedule—Wednesday, June 22, 8:45 a.m. to 1 p.m.

• 8:45 a.m.: Check-in. Distribute protective equipment.
• 9:00 a.m.: Safety orientation, description of work assignments.
• 9:15 a.m.: Work under the instruction of Habitat site staff.
• 12:45 p.m.: Cleanup
• Location: Habitat for Humanity Seattle-King County's La Fortuna New Construction community in Renton, 17286 127th Ave. SE, Renton, WA 98058

About Habitat for Humanity Seattle-King County

Habitat for Humanity SKC is an affiliate of Habitat for Humanity International, a nonprofit housing organization that brings people together to build homes, communities, and hope. Habitat SKC is dedicated to eliminating substandard housing through constructing, renovating, and preserving affordable homes, and by providing training and access to resources to help families improve their shelter conditions. Habitat SKC builds more than houses—we transform local communities. Habitat SKC has built renovated or repaired more than 450 homes for local families in need. For more information or to get involved, visit habitatskc.org or follow us on facebook.com/habitatskc or twitter.com/habitatskc.

About Regence BlueShield

Regence BlueShield has been serving Washingtonians in select counties for nearly a century and now provides more than 1.1 million members with comprehensive health insurance solutions. As a nonprofit independent licensee of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association, Regence is part of a family of companies dedicated to transforming health care by delivering innovative products and services that change the way consumers nationwide experience health care. For more information, please visit regence.com, facebook.com/regenceblueshieldwa or twitter.com/regencewa.

About the Master Builders Association

Founded in 1909, the Master Builders Association of King and Snohomish Counties (MBA) has grown to become the largest residential homebuilders association in the United States. With 2,800 member companies, the association is dedicated to membership value, government advocacy, financial stewardship, and promoting the residential building industry in the Puget Sound region. The association and its members address many of the concerns and issues affecting the residential housing industry. If you are looking to buy, build, remodel, or maintain your home, trust MBA for industry professional referrals and practical information to get the job done. mbaks.com

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Forget your favorite tiny home hunter show for a minute—this is real life. Despite what the media tells us, homeowners and homebuilders, have only very recently begun to shrink their standards in favor of more compact confines.

In the 1990s, if you can remember back that far, about 23.2 percent of homes built were 3,000 square feet or more according to a builderonline.com article based on data taken from the Census Bureau American Housing Survey (AHS). But after the recession, square footage dropped, right? Not so much. The study, which looked at the years between 1990 and 2015, saw the number of 3,000-plus square foot homes built actually increase to 28.6 percent from 2010 to 2015. In fact, the tiny trend didn't really start picking up steam until mid-2016, when millennials and other such first-time buyers became a big enough segment to affect census numbers.

What's interesting is that the minor dent young folks and first-timers are putting in the overall evolution of expanse isn't enough yet to pull builders off course. As labor and land costs expand with our house sizes, builders are less likely to put themselves at risk, opting to operate in the higher-end housing market boasting secure returns, as opposed to taking a less calculated dip into the lower-end income pool and the smaller—dare we say ‘tiny'—household segment.

Does that mean lower-end shoppers are out of luck?

Not necessarily. Townhouse construction is on the rise, accounting for 9 percent of single-family homes from 2010-2015 (up from 6 percent during the ‘90s), and, according to the Builder article, recent data reports show townhouse construction making upwards of 12 percent of total construction in current quarters.

Will townhomes and tiny houses continue to creep into the bigger picture? Time will tell, but it's safe to say as costs continue to rise and people continue coming to hotspots like Seattle and the Puget Sound region, both builders and buyers will continue to push traditional housing boundaries and seek out less expensive, more practical means of housing.

Should be an interesting evolutionary ride.

Craving more on less? Check out Seattle's tiny home revolution.