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Council discusses affordable housing, legal alignment and resource limits in strategic plan draft
Summary
Council discussed an action item to increase affordable housing, including permanent supportive housing, and debated how much control the city has, legal alignment with the comprehensive plan and the availability of staff and funding.
Council members and staff spent part of the Sept. 9 work session discussing an action item in the draft strategic plan that calls for increasing affordable housing in Tumwater, including permanent supportive housing. The discussion covered consistency with the comprehensive plan, statutory obligations, funding availability and staff capacity.
Staff asked the council to consider criteria questions about whether the action item is consistent with the Tumwater Comprehensive Plan and advancing an adopted plan or policy. Brad (staff member) said housing and affordability are likely covered by the comprehensive plan's housing element and that some items would need to "work in tandem" with the comp plan because the city lacks a stand-alone human-services element. He noted that the Metropolitan Parks District initiative is an example of a program with its own adopted plan and dedicated funding.
Council members debated the extent of the city's control over outcomes. One council member said the city can influence housing outcomes through zoning and incentives but cannot control market forces and material costs: "We can make multifamily tax credits. We can make high zoning regulations that allow all sorts of density. But if the market forces are not there or if the cost of materials are too high, there's a lot of things that we can't control when it comes to actually implementing affordable housing." (Staff member)
On funding, staff and council noted that some programs are supported with CDBG funds and a recurring line item for human-services funding, but that housing and human services are largely discretionary general-fund investments without dedicated accounts. By contrast, the council noted the Metropolitan Parks District is supported by a special tax to fund MPD projects.
No formal decisions were made; staff said these discussions would inform the prioritization and subsequent annual work-plan and budget proposals.
