Olympia seeks community input this Tuesday about federal affordable housing grant

The City of Olympia will hold a public hearing in council chambers on Tuesday, Oct. 8, to gather community input on a proposed $5.45 million grant application for affordable housing initiatives.

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) appropriates $100 million in competitive grant funding for Pathways to Removing Obstacles to Housing (PRO Housing).

Olympia is partnering with Thurston County on a grant proposal to tackle affordable housing challenges. The goal is to reduce local barriers and increase homeownership opportunities for low-income households. The proposal targets families earning 80% or less of the area median income in the Olympia-Tumwater metropolitan area.

According to the draft grant application, the lack of affordable housing has reached crisis levels nationwide, including in Thurston County. The cost to purchase or rent a home has increased at a rate that outpaces wage increases, while construction expenses for affordable units are high. As a result, the demand for affordable housing exceeded the supply.

Olympia has identified three main barriers to affordable homeownership: insufficient organizational capacity among local developers, inadequate financing and subsidies for producing and preserving new housing units, and limited resources to help low-income households become homeowners.

The city plans to utilize PRO Housing funds for three key activities:

• Provide capacity-building support for Thurston Housing Land Trust (THLT). PRO Housing funds will assist THLT in increasing its capacity to produce and preserve affordable homeownership units and expand its operations into the Grand Mound and Rochester areas. This activity will lower housing costs for low-income households by offering the unique land trust model and will facilitate the production of affordable homeownership units.
• Provide capital funding to create and preserve affordable homeownership units. PRO Housing funds will be provided to developers as grants to create new affordable homeownership units. This activity will facilitate affordable homeownership housing production by increasing subsidies to support the creation of new units and decreasing costs associated with development. Capital funding will support two primary uses: acquiring property in Olympia, Grand Mound, and Rochester for use as affordable homeownership housing; and grants to assist with the costs of infrastructure improvements associated with affordable homeownership projects occurring in Olympia.
• Provide resources to help low-income households become homeowners. Olympia completed the Affordable Homeownership study in December 2023, which identified strategies to increase affordable homeownership opportunities:
• Homebuyer education and counseling courses to prepare households for homeownership.
• Financial assistance to help reduce the private mortgage burden, making home purchases more attainable.

The city plans to use PRO Housing funding to provide resources for these initiatives.

The community is encouraged to attend the Public Hearing to provide testimony. More information on the grant opportunity can be found on HUD's PRO Housing website.

The public comment period for the grant application closes on Thursday, Oct. 10, 2024. Inquiries can be sent to Anastasia Everett.