The Olympia City Council approved a 12-year, multi-family tax exemption (MFTE) agreement with 505 Union Avenue LLC to develop affordable housing.
At a city council meeting on Tuesday, Feb. 25, Jacinda Steltjes, Affordable Housing Program manager, discussed the MFTE program, which changed in 2023 to align with an affordable housing incentive.
Steltjes explained that the percentage of units required to be affordable has increased from a minimum of 20% to 100%. Meanwhile, the income eligibility threshold has been reduced from 115% to 80% of the area median income.
The proposed 64-unit development at 505 Union Avenue will include studio and one-bedroom units, with rents affordable for a two-person household earning up to $72,150 annually.
This is a redevelopment or adaptive reuse project. The project will rent studio units for around $1,400 and one-bedroom units from $1,500 to $1,700.
"This project is currently in the permitting process," Steltjes said. "This is hitting two main goals with affordable housing and converting an underutilized office space to residential space."
Council member Clark Gilman, who has been critical of the MFTE program in the past, expressed support for this particular project, calling it "the best sort of match and the best use of the program."
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ViaLocal
Studios for $1400 and ONE bedrooms for $1,500 - $1,700 is so affordable this company gets a TWELVE year tax exemption? I lived in a two bedroom, two bathroom in Lacey for $1,400, which increased to $1,700 over the three years I was there. In Seattle, one bedroom apartments in the U District rent for about $1,600 on a six month lease.
Am I confused? Where is the affordable part?
Wednesday, March 5 Report this
DeaneTR
So I have to make three times the amount of annual income I make to afford affordable housing? What a bunch of white collar criminals every person involved in this BS is? They don't care about making housing affordable, they care solely about making housing profitable and they need to be taxed as such.
Wednesday, March 5 Report this
Phillipenglish
1700 dollars is not even KIND OF affordable, neither is 1500. Absolute joke. I rented a two bedroom in Olympia in 2021 for 1350. Absolutely no one making even above minimum could afford that. So happy they won't be contributing to society for twelve years while collecting people's income. Being a landlord isn't a real job.
Thursday, March 6 Report this
OlyKid88
The term "Affordable Housing" means different things to different groups. As of late, I've also been seeing the term "Attainable Housing" which seems to have no specific policy definition..
What should be a simple definition is actually quite confusing and it uses a bit of government math to arrive at the numbers. I find it so confusing that I can't ensure I have it 100% correct below, but it is close.
You can try it yourself:
https://www.huduser.gov/portal/datasets/il/il2024/2024summary.odn?STATES=53.0&INPUTNAME=METRO36500M36500*5306799999%2BThurston+County&statelist=&stname=Washington&wherefrom=&statefp=53&year=2024&ne_flag=&selection_type=county&incpath=&data=2024&SubmitButton=View+County+Calculations
From Olympia's MFTE webpage : "affordable - defined as rents and utilities not costing the tenant more than 30% of their monthly gross household income - to households whose income is 80% or lower of the Area Median Income, adjusted for household size and determined by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
HUD's Area Median Income for 2024 in Olympia/Thurston County was $116,700. HUD adjusts this number for family size to arrive at qualifying income limits.
For 2 people, the 80% Income Limit to qualify for "Low Income" housing would be $72,150. "Affordable Housing" by the definition used by the City would be 30% of this number, or roughly $1800 a month (rent + utilities) for two people.
In general, I don't think many people would assume rent defined as "Affordable" for two people would be $1,800 a month. Offering rents in this range meets Olympia's MFTE guidelines as I currently understand it.
Olympia has a very high median income level which helps explain the demand for the current rents of market rate apartments.
I think what many people mean when they use the word "Affordable" is actually "Low Income" or Subsidized housing. This type of housing is extraordinarily expensive to build and is an entirely different project than a typical developer would be able to produce as they pay market rates for land, labor, materials and permit/impact fees plus taxes. That is the primary reason that not enough of it gets built.
It is challenging for non profits in Olympia to make this happen. Habitat for Humanity recently had to walk away from a project that had free land, volunteer labor and subsidized materials due to Olympia's building permit requirements. They would have been required to repair/replace the surrounding streets, sidewalks and a walking path as I recall.
It isn't a simple topic. I'd love to hear others experience with the actual development of these types of properties in the City of Olympia.
I'm open to corrections or clarifications on the information I provided above.
Thursday, March 6 Report this