Olympia selects 10 rental units for housing upgrade pilot program

The City of Olympia has provisionally selected 10 affordable rental units for its Safe Housing and Rental Efficiency (SHARE) Accelerator, a pilot program designed to help landlords improve the health, safety and energy efficiency of rental housing.

Building Decarbonization Program Manager Dominic Jones said SHARE is a voluntary program that provides financial assistance and technical support to landlords, who agree to maintain affordable rental rates for seven years. 

“The main reason we wanted to do this program was to improve the quality of Olympia’s rental housing stock, provide energy efficiency improvements to reduce energy burdens for renters, who often don’t have control over the efficiency of their units, as well as reducing greenhouse gas emissions from existing buildings,” said Jones at an Olympia City Council meeting on Tuesday, June 16.

He said participating landlords receive a free rental housing inspection that satisfies the city’s Rental Registry and Inspection Program requirements, a detailed energy audit, project management assistance, and up to $15,000 per rental unit for eligible health, safety and energy-efficiency improvement. Staffers also help landlords access utility rebates and other grant opportunities to reduce project costs.

In exchange, property owners must sign a seven-year affordability covenant attached to the property’s deed. Under the agreement, participating units must remain rental housing and be affordable to households earning 80% or less of the area median income with housing costs, including utilities, not exceeding 30% of household income.

Jones said benefits to tenants are healthier and safer homes, improved cooling and indoor air quality, lower utility costs and long-term affordability.

SHARE has been under development since 2023, when the City of Olympia and Olympia Community Solar received a $400,000 Phase 1 award through the U.S. Department of Energy’s Buildings Upgrade Prize.

City staffers had planned to compete for additional federal funding to expand the program after spending nearly two years preparing a Phase 2 application.

However, Jones said the Department of Energy later paused the competition's subsequent phases, eliminating the opportunity to pursue an additional $800,000 to $1.2 million in grant funding.

Instead, city staffers redesigned the effort as a smaller 10-unit pilot using existing grant funds.

The pilot is funded through the U.S. Department of Energy Buildings Upgrade Prize (BUP) Phase 1 for $350,000 and a Puget Sound Energy Decarbonization grant for another $350,000.

Jones said the estimated cost to serve each rental unit ranges from about $28,000 to $30,000. That covers financial incentives, inspections, project management and administration costs.

The estimate does not include building owner contributions, which are expected to range from roughly $5,000 to $10,000 per unit, depending on existing building conditions.

If the program is expanded, city staffers estimate that an ongoing five-unit program would cost about $185,000 annually, while a 10-unit program would cost approximately $310,000 annually.

The program targets smaller rental properties, including single-family homes, accessory dwelling units and duplexes through fourplexes that provide naturally occurring affordable housing.

Jones said all applicants selected for the pilot were owners of naturally occurring affordable housing, rather than subsidized affordable housing developments. 

The application period opened March 2 and closed April 30. The city received 10 applications representing 15 rental units. Ten units have been provisionally selected, pending execution of participation agreements.

Some applications were deemed ineligible because the properties were not registered with the city’s Rental Registry and Inspection Program, exceeded affordability limits or applicants stopped responding during the process.

Jones said the pilot has already improved compliance with rental registry.

Of the 10 applicants, eight properties were not properly registered before owners learned about SHARE. Since applying, six applicants have completed registration for 2026, while the remaining two are working toward compliance. The names of the applicants were not available.

Staffers expect participating properties to receive improvements, such as heat pumps, heat pump water heaters, weatherization measures, and repairs addressing health and safety concerns identified during inspections.

Council member Clark Gilman said investing tens of thousands of dollars to improve existing affordable housing is far less expensive than constructing new affordable units.

“I think it is a really smart investment,” said Gilman, adding he hopes the pilot program positions Olympia to expand it if additional state or federal funding becomes available.