How should Spokane solve its real estate crisis? A draft plan contains ideas, but the city wants yours too

The city has released a plan to meet Spokane’s housing needs that offers a variety of rapid solutions, but also shows opportunities for deeper systemic change.

The extensive draft of the residential real estate action plan released on Monday comes from Spokane’s grappling with skyrocketing property prices, low vacancy rates and demands from developers and advocates of social justice alike.

The Housing Action Plan, which is broken down into a series of strategies and proposed amendments, will be publicly reviewed and, if everything goes according to plan, will be adopted as a resolution by Spokane City Council in June.

To include community input, the city conducted two surveys – one for people who live in the city and one for people who work in Spokane but live elsewhere – that received more than 1,200 responses. The opinions of various community stakeholders were also sought.

To collect additional contributions from the community, the city will hold two online housing action plan open days on Tuesday, the first at 12 noon and the second at 6 p.m. A link to the plan is available on the plan’s website at my.spokanecity.org/. Housing / Spokane Housing Action Plan /. The full report is also available on this website.

A plan is not a prescriptive policy, but the discussion will force city guides to define the scope of the housing crisis and to agree on broad, if not specific, changes.

Relatively minor and immediate adjustments include proposals like streamlining the city’s approval process. However, some target profound changes in housing policy, e.g. B. Reviewing the city’s comprehensive map and reviewing which areas should be reserved solely for detached single-family homes.

Even if the draft plan were adopted in writing, each of these actions would require separate review and approval by the Council.

The plan was funded by a grant from the Washington State Department of Commerce that provided the template for the city’s development of the Housing Action Plan.

The product of the community input effort is the 59-page draft action plan released this week.

The need, the strategies

The rise in house prices has outpaced the rise in incomes, the report said, and nearly 2 in 5 Spokane households are considered “cost-burdened,” meaning they spend more than 30% of their income on housing costs.

According to the report, a growing proportion of city dwellers cannot buy a home. While Spokane continues to be affordable compared to other cities, many people fear that due to the tightening market, it could be displaced.

As Spokane’s population continues to grow, it is estimated that the city will need at least another 6,800 residential units by 2037 as demand for single family homes, rental apartments, and senior housing increases.

In order to meet this need, the draft action plan sets out four priorities:

• Increase housing supply, options and affordability for all incomes.
• Maintain the affordability and quality of existing housing so people can thrive where they live.
• Improving fair access to housing and home ownership.
• Use and develop partnerships to support housing initiatives across the region.

To implement them, the plan offers a variety of options.

In order to achieve greater density and offer the “missing center” of apartments such as maisonettes and triplexes, the city could allow maisonettes to be built on a single plot in areas reserved for single-family homes. The city could also review the scope and requirements of its multi-family tax exemption program, which offers tax incentives to developers building apartment buildings within a defined limit.

To encourage the development of affordable housing, the city could waive the fees for developing low-income units.

As a trade for more housing, the city could reduce its minimum parking requirements and height restrictions for developers where alternative transportation options are readily available.

To prevent the displacement of people who already live here, the city could find ways to encourage community-level non-profit organizations to provide housing.

It could also better track whether short-term rentals through locations like AirBnb are meeting the city’s needs.

Feedback

A joint meeting of Spokane City Council and the Plan Commission on Wednesday provided an early glimpse into city guides’ perspective on the plan.

Property developers “beg for change,” said councilor Michael Cathcart.

But Councilor Candace Vimes warned that “it is always important to look at these things longer” and that the city is “beginning to see things in motion”.

While it’s all for a long-term look at housing policy in the city, Vimes said, “I don’t think we want to waste our precious time on things that are … 20 years old.”

Council Chairman Breean Beggs noted that the city increased height restrictions on new builds and allowed smaller plots to develop in some areas.

Developers don’t begin to take advantage of some of these changes until a few years later, Beggs said.

“Whatever we do, it’s a two, three, or four year process,” said Beggs.

Councilor Lori Kinnear repeated these points, arguing that new developments are allowed and “maybe they are not moving at the lightning-fast speed we want, but they are moving forward.”

“It’s not all we want, but we’re moving fast,” said Kinnear.

Changes to the city’s comprehensive plan, which was last updated in content in 2017, would require deeper discussions, warned Louis Meuler, the city’s interim planning director.

“We have to be able to set up the avenue and the venue so that the planning commission and the council can hear the voice of the public,” said Meuler.