Olympia City Hall

Olympia officials looking at housing plan

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OLYMPIA –– With city officials recording vacancy rates of less than three percent in Olympia’s housing market, efforts are underway to put together an affordable housing plan that will assist in controlling rent prices, which are continually rising, city officials said. 

The goal of the city’s affordable housing plan will be to provide a greater variety of housing types and sizes to meet the diverse needs of the entire community, rather than continuing to restrict portions of the community to new housing which is only affordable to those with moderate to high incomes.

The result of having more housing units and options available will ease the pressure on the current housing market and slow down the cost of ever-increasing housing prices. The Olympia City Council referred a list of 12 housing options to the city’s planning committee in 2019 and tasked planning officials with looking at three of those options. The list of 12 housing options was adopted by the state legislature earlier last year as a list of options available to cities state-wide to increase the amount of affordable housing in their communities. 

The three housing options identified for consideration in Olympia would allow duplexes on all corner lots in all zoning districts that permit single-family residences, allow duplexes, triplexes, or courtyard apartments on each parcel in one or more zoning districts that allow single-family residences, and allow accessory dwelling units (ADU) but do not require an additional parking space, do not require the property owner to live on-site, and do not have a maximum size requirement less than 1,000 square feet.

While the three options were discussed Monday night, planning commissioners could narrow that down to two. Rad Cunningham, one of the planning commissioners, asked whether city officials had to decide on the two options immediately to qualify for a $100,000 grant from Congress.

“We actually applied and have been rewarded with the grant,” said Joyce Phillips, senior planner for the city. “It is related to a housing action plan and we are working on it regionally with Lacey, Tumwater, Thurston County, and The Transportation and Public Construction Division (TOPC).”

Phillips added that city officials want to develop a shared set of data that juduristicons in Thurston County can use while also allowing Olympia city officials to implement a plan that is specific to the city. The housing action plan would come to the planning commission and it will tie in with Olympia’s comprehensive plan update, which is due in 2024.

affordable housing, affordable housing options, Olympia City Hall, Olympia Planning Commission, Joyce Phillips

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