The LOTT Clean Water Alliance Board of Directors approved a pilot program to provide partial rebates of sewer connection fees to low-income and permanent supportive housing units during a meeting on Wednesday, February 8.
To benefit from the program, developers of low-income and permanent supportive housing units would need to approach their local jurisdiction to apply. The city then reviews the application to see if they want to allocate funds for the housing project.
LOTT would conduct the final assessment by verifying if the project meets the criteria of low-income or permanent supportive housing.
Housing units are considered low-income if the rental cost is under 30% of the income of a low-income household. In contrast, permanent supportive housing units are made for people transitioning from homelessness.
Jurisdictions who want to take advantage of the program must place a contract on the project property, ensuring that it stays affordable for a minimum of 30 years.
The jurisdiction must also regularly audit the property to ensure compliance with the contract and enforce repayment of rebates should property owners fail to follow through.
Lacey City Councilmember Carolyn Cox, a member of the LOTT Board, brought up the extent of monitoring required of Lacey as they have sewers running into their urban growth area.
“[Lacey staff] is recommending that we go ahead and develop an [interlocal agreement] so that there is clear understanding of what Lacey will do in terms of doing the monitoring and all that [are] within city limits,” Cox said.
Cox clarified that Lacey is supportive of the program, adding. “I think we're willing to go ahead and move forward on it. If we bump into problems, we can try to get them worked out.”
Board Vice President Tye Menser said that reporting requirements are already in place and that housing projects financed by county funds would likely not experience any issues. The case would be different for private developers, but Menser encouraged them to work with the city staff of Lacey.
The board already set aside $1 million in funding for the program, which would provide rebates for around 300 housing units. Each jurisdiction could fund up to 75 housing units, with the option of tapping into a regional pool that could provide rebates to an additional 75.
LOTT Environmental Planning Director Lisa Dennis-Perez said that the pilot program is only for two years to see if they really need the program and ensure that the program works the way it is intended. She added that they could extend it beyond two years by forging an interlocal agreement and even make it permanent if local jurisdictions adopt the program in their municipal code.
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