Affordable housing bills finalized

Several bills that AWC has been working on have made it through the Legislature and are on their way to the Governor. Additionally, the compromise operating and capital budgets include significant new investments in these issues. Highlights are below:

• New councilmanic sales tax authority provided to cities and counties. HB 1590 has been sent to the Governor providing a new option for councilmanic approval of a currently voter-approved 1/10^th of one cent sales tax for affordable housing and behavioral health.
• The “HB 1406 trailer bill” HB 2797 passed on the final day of session.
• The Legislature passed a significantly watered-down version of the ADU bill, SB 6617. The only hard mandate in the bill prohibits cities from requiring on-site parking for ADUs that are within a quarter mile of a major transit stop. There are two significant exceptions to this preemption. If a city has adopted or significantly amended their ADU ordinances within the prior four years they are grandfathered and the provisions of the bill do not apply. If a city desires to require on-site parking for ADUs near transit they may do so, but they have to provide an evidence-based justification, such as lack of on-street parking capacity.
• The voluntary and incentive based HB 2343, which aims to promote density and pro-housing policies was amended in the Senate to include a suite of options to improve development streamlining. The House concurred on those amendments and the bill has been sent to the Governor.
• SB 6212 passed, allowing use of one of the property tax levies for affordable housing to serve individuals making 80% of the area median income rather than the 60% limit in current law. This will allow more flexibility for cities with a desire to address workforce housing.
• The Legislature also passed HB 2950 on the final day. This is a narrow Multifamily Tax Exemption (MFTE) bill that extends the tax exemption for the next two years for buildings that have income-restricted units that would have expired out of the program during that time. A work group is also created to attempt to find common ground on the broader issues of expanding the scope of the program. AWC and individual cities are asked to participate in this work group along with a variety of other stakeholders.

On the budget front, the Legislature made $160 million investments in affordable housing and homelessness. For a supplemental budget (and really for any budget) this is a very significant level of investment. Some highlights include:

• $60 million for competitive grants for cities and counties for temporary local shelter capacity
• $40 million in the Housing Trust Fund from the operating budget
• $15 million ongoing annual increase for the Housing and Essential Needs (HEN) program that provides people who are too disabled to work with housing and other essential needs
• $15 million for ongoing annual operations and maintenance funding for Permanent Supportive Housing
• $10 million for preservation of affordable multifamily housing
• $5 million for housing preservation grants