Title
Olympia 2045 - Housing Element Chapter of the City of Olympia Comprehensive Plan Update
Recommended Action
Information only. No action requested.
Report
Issue:
Discussion of the Housing Element to be included in the Olympia 2045 Comprehensive Plan Update.
Staff Contact:
Casey Schaufler, Associate Planner, Community Planning & Economic Development, 360.753.8254
Presenter(s):
Casey Schaufler, Associate Planner
Background and Analysis:
For the last periodic update, the City's Comprehensive Plan underwent a major rewrite through a planning process that took place from 2009 through 2014. The Plan was adopted in December of 2014. At least once every 10 years, cities and counties that are fully planning under the Growth Management Act (GMA), must update their plan through a process known as a periodic Update. The periodic update requires that jurisdictions update the planning horizon to a minimum of 20 years, update the population projection it is planning for, and address all new planning requirements that have been adopted since the previous update.
In 2021, the Washington Legislature changed the way communities are required to plan for housing. House Bill 1220 (2021) amended the Growth Management Act (GMA) to instruct local governments to "plan for and accommodate" housing affordable to all income levels. This significantly strengthened the previous goal, which was to encourage affordable housing.
The amended law also directed the Department of Commerce to project future housing needs for jurisdictions by income bracket and made significant updates to how jurisdictions are to plan for housing in the housing element of their comprehensive plans. These new changes to local housing elements include:
* Planning for sufficient land capacity for housing needs, including all economic segments of the population (moderate, low, very low and extremely low income, as well as emergency housing and permanent supportive housing).
* Providing for moderate density housing ...
Click here for full text