Thurston Regional Planning Council (TRPC) proposes allocating 9,915 low-income housing units for Lacey to meet county-wide affordable housing targets; according to Planning Manager Ryan Andrews' presentation to the Lacey City Council meeting on Tuesday, Oct. 15.
Andrews briefed the City Council about the preliminary allocations that the TRPC has developed to distribute 54,356 low-income housing units throughout the county. Based on projections by the Washington State Department of Commerce, the county needs these units to accommodate growth until 2045.
The proposed allocations informed a land capacity study, also conducted by TRPC, which found that Lacey and its urban growth area have enough land and appropriate zoning to accommodate the required number of housing units.
The study projects that the city has the capacity for an additional 10,091 low-income housing units, a surplus of 176 units compared to what the TRPC allocated for the city.
Andrews emphasized that the study is purely academic and does not guarantee that the housing units will be built, to which Mayor Andy Ryder agreed.
"There's a big difference do we have enough buildable lands to build affordable housing compared to can we actually build affordable housing to meet these requirements," Ryder said,
"I think it's important to, I guess, see on paper 'it's possible' – but man, there's a long way to go before we actually are seeing the private sector build this type of housing," he continued.
Andrews noted that the land capacity study does not project any low-income housing for rural areas.
"It needs to be in some kind of multi-family or something like that, which you're not able to construct in rural Thurston County because of zoning requirements, wells and septics, and those kinds of things that limit that type of housing really to our urban areas," Andrews said.
TRPC still needs to finalize the housing allocations and land capacity study. Once the council adopts it, county jurisdictions must incorporate the data into their comprehensive plan updates.
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Acadian04
Please make sure adequate roads and other infrastructure are in place BEFORE adding high-density housing, not after.
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KarenM
One important aspect to affordable housing is that it needs to be located near transit, schools, and services. Having to drive long distances for work and other needs is expensive. When a household needs to own two cars, that gets very expensive. It is not just the cost of gas - it is insurance, maintenance and first-cost of a vehicle.
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