Tenants, landlords, and housing advocates fear that the Spokane area’s supply of affordable housing may not survive the pandemic. They are pleading for
M
organ Sanders, a former facility engineer, first realized something was wrong when he started falling off ladders and getting dizzy driving. Then, nearly a decade ago, came the devastating diagnosis: He had a brain tumor. During the depths of the recession, he struggled to pay his bills, including his mortgage and his Spokane County property taxes. I worked extremely hard to keep up with my taxes, Sanders says. [But] I was a year behind. After you miss the first due date, it escalated something fierce. Go a year without paying your property taxes in Washington state, and your tax bill skyrockets by a full 23 percent. To start with, you ll have to pay an additional 1 percent in interest each month your bill remains unpaid. But it gets worse: You ll be hit with an additional 3 percent penalty in June and an 8 percent penalty in December.