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Spokane County staff say Commerce 'cracked open' HAP tool after allocations shifted; commissioners push for reconciliation
Summary
County planners told commissioners that the state's HAP housing-allocation tool produced surprising shifts in unit counts—raising Spokane city's allocation by roughly 5,000 units—because of proprietary weightings; Commerce has since provided an unrestricted spreadsheet and staff proposed a targeted reconciliation process to resolve inconsistencies.
Spokane County planning staff told the Board of County Commissioners on Feb. 23 that the state's Housing Allocation Projection (HAP) tool produced housing-unit allocations that diverge from previously discussed population projections and that the county needs a formal reconciliation to avoid noncompliance with the Growth Management Act.
"Commerce has agreed to crack open the box. They sent us an unrestricted uh tool a week ago," Scott Chesy, the county presenter, said. He told commissioners the HAP algorithm applied a mix of factors—60% on recent growth, 30% on what the tool labels housing‑cost inequity, and 10% for institutional/group‑quarters—producing shifts that staff could not explain until they…
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