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Commission considers fees, construction excise tax to offset employment-driven housing demand
Summary
Staff suggested fee-in-lieu or a construction excise tax (a small percentage of building-permit value, often around 1%) for commercial or industrial annexations that create housing demand; staff cited $500,000 in ARPA funds used to leverage a Northwest Housing Alternatives project.
Discussing how to address housing pressure created by employment lands, staff raised two funding options: a fee‑in‑lieu tied to annexations or a construction excise tax on commercial/industrial building permits. The excise tax mechanism was described as a small percentage (often about 1%) of the permit value that would flow into an affordable-housing fund.
Staff also cited a local example in which $500,000 in county ARPA funding helped leverage Northwest Housing Alternatives to develop a project at the Wellhouse Church site. "It's not enough to build affordable housing by itself, but it certainly found it valuable," staff said of the ARPA contribution.
