Tumwater’s population is expected to boom over next 20 years. Can housing keep up?
The City of Tumwater has to build an additional 9,000 housing units over the next 20 years to meet future housing needs. Housing and Land Use Planner Erika Smith-Erickson said the city also needs more than 700 permanent supportive housing units and more emergency shelters.
Smith-Erickson gave the council a briefing on the city’s housing needs and goals Aug. 26 as part of Tumwater’s Comprehensive Plan update. The briefing included some public feedback from residents, and Smith-Erickson said staff will continue to hear from the public until the council potentially adopts the Comprehensive Plan updates at the end of the year.
Smith-Erickson said the goal for housing in the state Growth Management Act is to plan for and accommodate housing that’s affordable to all economic segments of the population. That includes promoting a variety of residential densities and housing types, and encouraging the preservation of the existing housing stock.
She said all economic segments includes moderate income, low income and very low income.
Smith-Erickson said very low income is defined as a household being at 30% of the area median income. That’s $31,500 for a household of three people. For low-income families, that number is 80% AMI, or $84,050, according to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. For moderate income households, that’s 100% of the AMI, or $102,500 annually.
One of the newer requirements set in the Growth Management Act states that cities need to identify the number of housing units necessary for growth, based on data from the Department of Commerce.
The units need to be analyzed and broken down further into income categories, and permanent supportive housing and emergency shelters need to be accounted for. Smith-Erickson said a total of 9,192 units are needed for a projected population increase of 17,000 people over the next 20 years.
She said the housing element of the plan must include goals, policies and actions addressing the preservation, improvement and development of housing. She said that includes allowing middle housing types such as duplexes, triplexes and townhomes in more residential areas, which is a step the city is already undertaking.
Smith-Erickson said the city must plan for and allow housing such as permanent supportive housing and emergency housing, such as shelters, as well as manufactured housing, care facilities, and more.
She said based on work done with the Thurston Regional Planning Council and neighboring jurisdictions, Tumwater needs 720 more permanent supportive housing units and/or shelter beds within the Urban Growth Area in the next 20 years.
Another state requirement is to address racially disparate impacts and displacement. She said the city needs to identify local policies and regulations that result in these issues and overall inclusion within housing. Then they must identify and implement policies and regulations to address and begin to undo those racially disparate impacts.
“Then we needed to identify areas that may be at higher risk of displacement from market forces that occur with changes to zoning development regulations and capital investments, as well as establish anti-displacement policies with consideration given to the preservation of historical and cultural communities,” Smith-Erickson said.
She said the city’s consultant met with a number of housing groups, including low-income families, those in manufactured homes and ADUs, and military families.
It was found that the group at most risk of displacement in Tumwater are those in manufactured homes and seniors. Smith-Erickson said the city has protections for manufactured home parks, but there isn’t a mechanism to stop them from being sold.
Some of the suggestions for addressing Tumwater’s housing stock, both from city staff and from members of the public, include planning and requiring more density at the time of build, including more ADUs. Impact fees could also be waived in some instances.
Another idea was to expand the city’s multi-family tax exemption program to include options for renewing the 12-year exemption and adding a 20-year option.
Increasing tenant protections was also suggested, as well as tailoring specific ideas for Tumwater’s population, such as for families and creating housing for all stages of life.
Smith-Erickson said it was also suggested that the city waive development regulations for innovative housing projects and demonstration projects. This would involve waiving some development standards for projects that meet certain criteria and are in areas with available infrastructure and transportation.
The last of the suggestions was to buy land to sell to nonprofits and affordable housing developers, to start a Home Fund, and to provide more counseling and education for those at risk of displacement.
Smith-Erickson said she plans to finalize the draft development code by the end of the month and then try to create a more comprehensive “story” around the housing data to explain what it means for Tumwater beyond just numbers and state requirements.
She said the formal public engagement process ended July 11, but staff members are taking more feedback from residents on the housing element of the Comprehensive Plan. Smith-Erickson said she can take comments at her email, eerickson@ci.tumwater.wa.us, or contact Brad Medrud at bmedrud@ci.tumwater.wa.us.
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