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Council to hold work session on 14-06 affordable-housing funds; Treasurer offers loan options
Summary
Staff outlined options for the county’s annual 14-06 affordable housing revenue (about $800,000/year) and council asked for a dedicated work session with the treasurer and housing providers to explore loans, multi-year commitments, and other strategies.
County staff briefed the council on the limited annual revenue the county receives under Washington’s HB 1406 revenue-sharing program and presented options for using the roughly $800,000-per-year allocation to support affordable housing.
Jordan Bogie summarized funding options and said bonding against the revenue stream would be difficult because the 1406 remittance is a sunset revenue with about 14 years remaining. He told the council that bonding might raise only $10–$12 million and that financing costs and the program’s sunset made bonding unattractive.
Bogie proposed alternatives including an annual RFP to allocate small grants, a multi-year commitment for one or more projects, or using a county loan or line-of-credit mechanism. “Since we only receive about $800,000 a year, from this funding source, that is not a large substantial amount of money when it comes to affordable housing development,” Bogie said.
Clark County Treasurer Alicia Topper said her office could research a county line-of-credit option or other loan mechanisms, potentially offering terms favorable to affordable-housing developers and returning interest to the county. “My office are happy to do any research that you would like on what a line of credit from the County to the housing authority would look like and what the statutory limitations would be,” Topper told council.
Councilors asked for a work session to explore options with the Vancouver Housing Authority, Treasurer Topper and affordable-housing providers. Councilors expressed interest in solutions that multiply the impact of limited annual funds — for example, by creating a revolving loan or multi-year commitment rather than one-off annual grants.
Staff will arrange a work session to present options, financial modeling and recommended approaches.
