Thursday, October 1, 2026
The Olympia City Council is scheduled to vote on resolutions that target state funding to support infrastructure costs associated with separate affordable housing projects.
Both items are on the council’s consent calendar for a meeting on Tuesday, Sept. 15. The consent calendar is generally filled with items that require one vote for approval.
The resolutions call for the funding applications to be submitted to the Washington State Department of Commerce's Connecting Housing to Infrastructure Program (CHIP).
The two projects are in different parts of Olympia, serve different populations, and aim to use state grant funding to help offset infrastructure costs tied to affordable housing.
One application would seek $730,000 for the Low Income Housing Institute’s (LIHI) Franz Anderson Permanent Supportive Housing project at 527 Franz Anderson Road SE.
The proposed development would include 70 studio and one-bedroom units for households earning up to 50 percent of the area median income, plus one unit for an on-site property manager.
At least 35 units would be reserved for households earning less than 30 percent of the area median income.
The project would also provide voluntary wraparound support services intended to help residents, who have complex and disabling behavioral or physical health conditions, to maintain housing stability.
According to a staff report, LIHI anticipates beginning construction in March 2027, with completion expected in late spring or early summer 2028.
The project is planned within one-half mile of a high-frequency transit corridor along Martin Way SE, served by Intercity Transit.
The requested $730,000 would amount to about $10,282 per unit, based on the 71 total units in the project.
The staff report states Olympia may need nearly 1,100 additional permanent supportive housing units by 2045, along with thousands of additional units affordable to households earning up to 50 percent of area median income.
The second CHIP application involves the Harbor Pines project at 4101 9th Ave. SW, where Harbor Pines Manager LLC is seeking $685,035 through the program.
The project consists of 272 family-size units, ranging from one to five bedrooms, for households earning up to 60 percent of area median income. Plans also include community space, a children’s play area and a fitness center.
Unlike the Franz Anderson Project, Harbor Pines is under construction. The project broke ground in July 2026 and is expected to be finished by November 2028. DevCo Residential Group of Bellevue is the developer.
The project is partially funded through the federal 4 percent Low Income Housing Tax Credit program, and is expected to remain affordable for at least 30 years.
According to a staff report, the CHIP request is about $2,519 per affordable unit.
CHIP is a competitive grant program funded through Washington’s 2025-27 capital budget and administered by the Department of Commerce.
The program is designed to help local governments support affordable housing by reducing or covering costs associated with water, sewer and stormwater infrastructure and, in some cases, system development charges.
A CHIP applicant must be a city, county or public utility district in partnership with an affordable housing developer.
For the 2026 funding cycle, approximately $31 million is available statewide, including about $25.8 million for eligible jurisdictions and a $5.2 million set-aside for projects in jurisdictions with populations below 150,000. Applicants can request up to $2 million per project.
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BobJacobs
Once again, JOLT refers to the "area median income" but does not tell us what that amount is, so we can't understand who these housing units are intended for.
Why?
Bob Jacobs
Saturday, September 12 Report this
Tanker1982
About $102,000 if I checked the right website
Saturday, September 12 Report this
CommonSenseSenior
Go online and look at the Devco websites of 'affordable housing' they have built. LOOK AT WHAT A 1 bedroom RENTS FOR. And look at the disclaimers that say you must have a certain income annually to even apply. Not a single senior I know could afford even one 1-br apt in their 'affordable housing'. The one I looked at said they started at $1425 for 826 sq ft 1 br 1 ba. Then when you click on 'availability' they show 6 of those apts and here is the rental range:
starting at $1975
starting at 1850
starting at 1750
starting at 1675
starting at 1600
*and if you want a washer/dryer in apt it's $50/mo more.
I ALWAYS LAUGH AT THE ANNOUNCEMENTS OF AFFORDABLE HOUSING WHERE NO ONE SEEMS TO LOOK AT WHAT IT ENDS UP TO BE WHEN DONE. A widowed/widower senior on social security couldn't even begin to pay those rents it would take their entire social security check, so what's affordable about them???? In my opinion all 'affordable' housing approved using shared money should have set a maximum rent that a one person elderly senior could afford, or a serious sliding scale for those whose total social security income is only $1800/mo. Just take out the word affordable. It doesn't exist. And all of those developments have a 'minimum stated income' you must make. Why do we always see these affordable units photos without any follow up article on what that developer actually ends up asking in rent on their websites?
Saturday, September 12 Report this
36098501
There is an important distinction missing from the discussion of “affordable housing” in Olympia. Affordable is a technical housing-policy term, not necessarily a synonym what many in our community consider low rent.
For 2026, the Olympia-Lacey-Tumwater area has a HUD Median Family Income (MFI) of $122,800. For a two-person household, 80% of MFI—the commonly used “Low Income” threshold—is $78,600.
Note : AMI and MFI often get used interchangeably in these discussion.
The affordability calculation is straightforward:
80% MFI income: $78,600/year
30% of income: $23,580/year
Monthly housing cost: $1,965
Less estimated utilities: $150
“Low Income” qualifying rent: ~$1,815/month
Importantly, much of the new apartment inventory coming online in Olympia is offered at rents that overlap with, or are close to, this $1,815 benchmark. That helps explain why new apartments lease quickly despite substantial new construction and vacancy rates remain below 5%.
City Council members and City staff understand these definitions. They should be equally clear with the public.
What percentage of MFI is being targeted—80%, 60%, 50%, or 30%? What rent does that actually produce?
Using “affordable housing” without stating the applicable income level creates unnecessary confusion and division in the community.
There is an example calculation from a comment I made on a previous Jolt article.
https://www.thejoltnews.com/stories/two-market-rate-housing-projects-approved-in-olympia,26958
Sites with Supporting HUD Data For Reference
https://hatc.org/eligibility-income-limits/
https://www.huduser.gov/datasets/il/il2026/summary?reporttype=county&year=2026&counties=5306799999&states=53&q=Thurston%20County,%20WA
Sunday, September 13 Report this