Anacortes — The council’s housing affordability and community services committee on July 7 briefed the full council on several housing efforts: support letters for nonprofit projects, an award to the Anacortes Housing Authority from county housing funds, small‑scale ADU construction by ABLE Housing and possible code changes to reduce or eliminate parking requirements for permanently affordable disabled‑adult housing.

Committee member Councilmember Walters reported the committee recently briefed representatives of ABLE Housing and the Anacortes Housing Authority. Walters said ABLE Housing is building a couple of accessory dwelling units (ADUs) behind a property their member purchased to house one or two adults with disabilities. ABLE asked the city to consider amending the municipal code to reduce or remove parking requirements for permanently affordable housing for disabled adults; the committee discussed the request.

Other items discussed included a Salvation Army request for modest support for cold‑weather shelter operations and potential grant work on infrastructure for the Lisonbee building. Walters said the Salvation Army estimated it could operate a cold‑weather shelter for roughly $10,000 a year. The committee also noted that $20,000 in CDBG administrative funds will become available through a CDBG action‑plan revision.

Why it matters: The committee’s items are focused on preserving and enabling permanently affordable housing for vulnerable residents, encouraging small‑scale ADU projects, and pursuing grant funds that could pay for sewer, stormwater and impact‑fee work needed to support affordable projects downtown.

Clarifying points and next steps

- Anacortes Housing Authority: Walters said the housing authority received a county award from a small grants program sometimes described as the county’s 0.09 grant funds allocated to housing.

- ABLE Housing: Working on building ADUs for disabled adults; the group suggested parking requirements could be reduced or waived for permanently dedicated disabled‑adult units.

- CHIP grant and Lisonbee building: Committee discussed the Connecting Housing to Infrastructure (CHIP) grant concept; the city would need to be the applicant if the housing authority proceeds with an application that could fund sewer/stormwater work or impact fees for the Lisonbee building.

- Funding: The committee expects to pursue available grant funds and use CDBG administrative dollars where allowable.

Ending: Committee members asked staff to continue grant coordination and follow up on code change implications; no ordinance or budget appropriation was approved on July 7.