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Spokane County planners outline housing targets, land analysis for 2026 comprehensive plan
Summary
Spokane County planners said the 2026 comprehensive plan will set goals and policies to guide housing development through 2046, prioritizing affordability for households at 0–80% of area median income, identifying land capacity and considering permanently supportive and emergency housing.
Spokane County planners Tate Andre and Bongo Thompson said the county’s 2026 comprehensive plan will set goals and policies to guide housing development through 2046, with a focus on affordability and support for people experiencing homelessness.
The plan’s housing element will combine data analysis, stakeholder outreach and targets for affordable housing, Andre, a Spokane County planner, said. “The bulk of it is through goals and policies, making sure we address housing needs identified by everyone in the community, but also supported by data,” Andre said.
Why it matters: the housing element will shape zoning, development regulations and funding priorities countywide and is intended to identify sufficient land and measures to meet housing needs over the next 20 years.
Bongo Thompson, a Spokane County planner, said affordability is the “main crux” of the housing element and that the county already sees “a deficit of affordable housing on the lower end of the economic spectrum.” Thompson said the plan will target people making roughly “0 to 80% of the area median income” and look for ways to increase opportunities for those income bands, including zoning changes and tweaks to development rules.
Planners said the work will include a land-capacity analysis led by colleague Grama Zickafoos to identify where housing can be built to meet the stated targets. “We have to identify sufficient land for those housing needs we need to meet, and that’s through our land capacity analysis that our colleague Grama Zickafoos is working on,” Thompson said.
The planners also said the plan will examine housing types and services, including permanently supportive housing and emergency housing for people who need them, and will look at funding opportunities and regulatory adjustments to encourage production.
Andre and Thompson said the housing element will be developed using community outreach and consultation with state agencies. “We have targets for affordability housing affordability that we’re seeking. That’s in consultation with the Department of Commerce, Office of Financial Management, as well as our own planning work in local jurisdictions,” Thompson said. The episode also referenced a recent state House bill (recorded in the podcast as “House Bill 12 20”) as part of the set of state requirements planners are accounting for when preparing the housing element; the planners said the county must inventory and analyze housing needs and make adequate provisions to meet them.
No formal votes or decisions were recorded in the podcast; the episode was an informational discussion about the planning process and next steps for drafting the housing element.
The planners said next steps include completing the land-capacity analysis, refining affordability targets, seeking community and jurisdictional input, and identifying funding and regulatory measures to meet the targets in the final 2026 plan.
