Olympia City Council focuses on two projects toward solving four-year housing crisis 

Olympia’s City Council focused on the continuing public health emergency of homelessness at its weekly meeting on Tuesday. 

During the May 4 meeting the council approved two resolutions that would help alleviate the ongoing housing crisis. These included funds for a second homeless shelter and a deal to sell a city-owned property to a developer that requires it to provide affordable housing as part of the project. 

Homeless Shelters

During their discussion, the city voted on a resolution that would grant funding for Interfaith Works, a non-profit organization that currently operates the Emergency Overnight Shelter to help build their second shelter. Located at 3444 Martin Way East, the new building will have 38 beds and feature other facilities and resources to help homeless individuals. In their decision, the city council agreed to provide 11 percent of the overall construction budget with a total of $2.1 million.

The new building will be the first of its kind in Olympia. Called a Sprung Structure, it makes use of patented technologies that enable faster on-site assembly than convention construction and costs less on a per-square-foot basis.

The new building is a huge step up for the organization since they are currently providing shelters for homeless people in two church basements.

Interfaith Works broke ground on a related project in December 2020, in partnership with The Low Income Housing Institute, a $20.7 million project at 2828 Martin Way East, that will incorporate 65 permanent housing units and a 60-bed enhanced shelter.

Affordable Housing 

The council also approved an agreement to sell a city-owned property to Urban Olympia, a private real estate development company headed by Walker John. Located at 308 – 310 4th Avenue E, the property is known as the former Griswold site. The interior was destroyed by fire in July 2004. Twelve years later, the city acquired the building as a part of the community renewal area.

In the agreement, the council made it clear that the buyer had to repurpose the building to accommodate residential housing for at least 20 years. 

In addition, the local government also explained that the buyer had made at least 60 percent of the units in the property affordable for city residents in the next 12 years. For its long-term plan, the city council added that the number of units allocated for affordable housing would eventually go down to 20 percent.

The contract also defines what affordable means, stating that it should be accessible to people making 80 percent or less of the area's median income.

If the sale becomes successful, the local government scheduled the demolition by early fall and construction by the following year. 

In a comment, Mayor Pro Tem Clark Gilman answered the question from one of the city’s residents on why the local government chose not to work with a non-profit organization. Gilman explained that a partnership with Urban Olympia would still have the same result, specifically since the sale agreement involves a restrictive 20-year contract.

 “I am confident that this is going to provide the same sort of long-term affordable protected housing that we would have had with a non-profit developer,” Gilman said. 

Extending the State of Emergency 

Finally, the city council approved extending the declaration of the state of emergency on housing for the next six months. The state of emergency was first declared on July 17, 2018, and renewed every six months. Moreover, the local government also agreed that the COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated the issue.

To provide long-term solutions, the council proposes to use part of the $3 million remaining from the Economic Development Recovery fund (EDR).

In his presentation, City Manager Jay Burney noted that they planned to allocate $250,000 of the existing fund to Interfaith Works to build homeless shelters.

In addition, the council also allotted $150,000 for the homeless response support and $300,000 for the homeless Scattered Site support. The additional budget will enable the city to hire more people and design a system to improve the current situation. 

Councilmember Jim Cooper said that the EDR proposal has a huge impact not just on the current housing crisis but as well in paving the city’s economic recovery. 

On the other hand, the council has not decided how to spend the remaining $10.06 million of the American Rescue Plan (ARP) since the federal government is yet to provide additional guidelines for spending.