1. Eastside Human Services Forum
Affordable Housing Workshop
Lindsay Masters, ARCH Executive Manager
June 20, 2019

2. Affordable Housing in East King County: Past Accomplishments
Bellevue, Kirkland, Redmond and King County establish A Regional Coalition for Housing (ARCH) to jointly advance affordable housing. Twelve more cities join in succeeding years.
ARCH works with cities to advance affordability by pooling local investment, supporting community partners that build and operate affordable housing, designing land use and incentive programs to promote affordable housing in new development, and allow flexibility and diversity of housing types in local codes.

3. Accomplishments: Local Investment in Affordable Housing
– ARCH cities jointly invest $63 million in local resources through the ARCH Trust Fund to
Cities make contributions in the form of funding, land, and fee waivers.
ARCH Trust Fund supports over 3,600 units/beds in a wide variety of projects.

4. Accomplishments: Inclusionary Zoning and Affordable Housing Incentives
City
Owner
Renter
Grand Total
Bellevue 91
287
378
Issaquah
322 80
402
Kenmore 56
King County
303
367
670
Kirkland 42
128
170
Mercer Island 13
Newcastle 6 31 37
Redmond
112
584
696
Sammamish 7 48 55
Woodinville 22
905
1594
2499
Eastside cities lead early adoption of inclusionary housing programs.
City of Redmond is an early leader in requiring affordable units as part of new development.
Seven cities offer property tax exemptions for affordable housing.
Ten cities offer impact fee waivers/reductions.

5. Recent Accomplishments
City of Kenmore adopts zoning to protect manufactured housing communities.
City of Bothell adopts mandatory inclusionary housing, becomes first ARCH city to apply requirements to commercial development.
City of Kirkland purchases land for first permanent 24/7 women and family shelter in EKC.
City of Bellevue adds $15 million in additional funds for housing over 9 years as part of its affordable housing strategy.( )
City of Woodinville adopts MFTE for affordable housing.

6. Challenges and Opportunities
Fast page of growth in high income jobs (cycle of commercial development continues)
Rising income inequality and homelessness
Lag in total housing production compared to jobs
Lack of suitable multifamily zoned land drives up competition/prices
Lack of community/political support
Opportunities:
Foundation of regional collaboration in EKC cities
Strong economy/affluent communities provide a healthy tax base
Strong progressive values within the community
Employers learning the value of a diverse and affordable housing supply to the workforce
Inclusionary housing track record

7. Existing Local Funding Tools
Consistently Used Tools:
General fund revenues (but little growth in 20 years; structural deficits constrain local budgets)
Tools that have been used occasionally:
Land Donation
REET – flexibility to use for housing extended in recent legislative session (used only by City of Kirkland)
Developer “in-lieu” payments (used infrequently in Kirkland, Bellevue, Redmond);
Cities have not applied incentive programs to commercial development.
Tools that have not been utilized:
Property tax levy (requires voter approval)
Passed by Seattle voters in 1981, 1995, 2002, 2009, and 2016 (with over 70% of the vote)
0.1% Sales tax for housing and services (requires voter approval)
NEW: Local option sales tax (HB 1406)
Newly authorized tool, expect all cities to implement. ~$1.3m annually in EKC
In the same period ARCH cities invested $63 million to create 3,600 units (6k if including incentive production), Seattle has invested over ten times that amount ($650 million) to produce about 14,000 permanently affordable homes and over 6k affordable units in private developments with MFTE

8. What can we do to move the needle?
Who needs to get involved?
Faith Communities
Local elected leaders
State legislators
Major employers
Community leaders
Housing developers/providers
Homeless providers
People affected by the housing crisis

9. What can we do to move the needle?
ADVOCACY
Make the case to use existing funding tools, and request new tools from the state.
Make affordable housing the highest priority use of public land.
Engage employers and faith communities to dedicate available land and resources.
Require all new development (commercial and residential) to contribute to affordable housing.
Allow more land to be available for multifamily and other housing types.
Organize support for affordable housing in your community.
Learn people’s stories – share how the lack of affordable housing affects our community, and how its presence can change people’s lives.
What can we do to move the needle?