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City staff reports housing allocation under HB 1220: Spokane must plan for about 22,359 new homes by 2046
Summary
City staff reported that Spokane must plan for roughly 22,359 additional housing units by 2046 under House Bill 1220 and Department of Commerce guidance, and identified a shortfall in housing affordable at 0–80% of area median income.
City planning staff told the Spokane Plan Commission on July 9 that the city needs to plan for approximately 22,359 new housing units by 2046 under state guidance implemented through House Bill 1220 and the Department of Commerce housing-allocation planning tool (HAPT).
Kevin Fred, planning staff, explained the statewide and regional context used to produce the number: Office of Financial Management population projections feed county-level allocations; Spokane County’s chosen middle projection produces a county growth of roughly 100,000 people by 2046, and the city’s share of population growth is about 23,400 people by 2046. Using Commerce’s tools, Fred said the county housing target is about 75,184 new homes and the city’s housing apportionment is 22,359 homes. Fred summarized the allocation’s composition: about 60% of the need addresses housing for net new residents (roughly 14,000 units), 30% addresses past underproduction (roughly 7,000 units), and 10% is intended to help reduce homelessness (about 2,300 units).
Fred told the commission that the HAPT tool breaks the housing target into affordability brackets tied to area median income (AMI) percentages and that Commerce’s guidance recommends consolidating brackets for analytical practicality. He described the practical method the city used to convert land-capacity and market data into affordability outcomes: the planning team combined the adopted land-capacity analysis (LCA) with publicly available housing-price and rent data (Zillow/Redfin), statewide research center data and census tenure data to estimate where new units are likely to be built and whether they would be rental or owner-occupied.
On the results, Fred said Spokane shows a significant shortfall of units in the 0–80% AMI bracket. "We are short on the 0 to 80% case," he told commissioners, adding that the city has some excess capacity in higher AMI brackets that could be addressed with policy changes. He emphasized that the analysis used Commerce guidance and that the city will need policy and mapping changes in the comprehensive-plan update to increase capacity and promote affordable options.
Commissioners asked clarifying questions about the HAPT methodology, whether the tool reflects existing disparities and how to interpret neighborhood-level results. Fred told the commission HAPT is an established state tool with detailed guidance; the exact algorithm is not a simple single formula but is based on multiple public inputs (population projections, local housing-market indicators and county apportionment choices). He said the city used a neighborhood-level approach to map median home prices and rents to expected affordability brackets, then applied census tenure splits to estimate how many new units in a given area would be rental versus owner units.
Commissioners raised concerns about unintended consequences of policies that could concentrate low-income housing in particular neighborhoods. Fred said forthcoming analyses — including displacement-risk and racial-disparate-impact work — will be used to inform where capacity should be added and how to avoid concentrating poverty. He also noted the state requirement to revisit analysis over time; Commerce guidance sets re-evaluation intervals and the city will track changes between updates.
Fred described some technical clarifications that informed the numbers: the analysis uses completed housing units (certificate-of-occupancy) through the most recent year available to reduce the remaining need; the HAPT allocation covers only traditional housing units (it excludes group quarters such as dormitories and institutional housing) and used the 2025 AMI published by HUD for Spokane County.
Ending: Staff said the housing-allocation figures are a required analytical input for the comprehensive-plan update and will be part of the forthcoming EIS and policy alternatives. Commissioners and staff agreed the next steps are to use the allocation to test map and policy alternatives, coordinate displacement- and equity-related analyses, and develop targeted policy measures to increase capacity for housing affordable at 0–80% AMI.
