Spokane County Commissioners discuss repurposing surplus land for affordable housing

Earlier this week, Spokane County Commissioner Chris Jordan presented a draft ordinance that could allow the county to sell surplus land at a discount so it can be used for affordable housing.

The proposal cites a state law passed in 2018, RCW 39.33.015, which allows a state agency, municipality, or political subdivision to use surplus lands for public benefit and transfer them to a public, private, or nongovernmental organization for affordable housing.

Jordan initially discussed the proposal at the Oct. 15 meeting of the Spokane County Board of County Commissioners meeting. His ordinance would allow the repurposing of county-owned land for affordable housing when the county determines an unused property to be surplus and appropriate for that use.

One potential surplus property that Jordan wanted to consider for affordable housing is a residential house located on Evergreen Road in Spokane Valley, which once housed the headquarters for SCOPE, a volunteer public safety organization with the Spokane County Sheriff’s Office.

Jordan tells the Inlander that community nonprofits in the West Central neighborhood are also working to find affordable housing opportunities and have expressed an interest in surplus county-owned properties.

“All we have to do to give ourselves that choice as the county is pass a local ordinance, basically unlocking that authority, and we haven’t done so yet,” Jordan says.

Thrive International Spokane, Habitat For Humanity Spokane, Spokane Neighborhood Action Partners (SNAP) and Family Promise of Spokane have all issued letters of support for the draft ordinance.

At the Nov. 5 commissioners’ briefing session, Jordan shared a March 2023 study by the state Department of Commerce, which projected that Spokane County would need to add nearly 71,000 housing units by 2044 to keep up with growing demand.

According to the Spokane County 2020-2024 Consolidated Plan, 6,478 renters and 5,503 owner-occupants in the county have housing costs greater than 50% of their income.

The Evergreen Road property is an example of a residence that Habitat for Humanity could try to acquire for its homebuyer program, which helps renovate properties and get low-income families into the homes with lower mortgages thanks to grant opportunities.

At the briefing session, Habitat for Humanity Spokane CEO Michelle Girardot expressed support for Jordan’s ordinance and the idea of using county surplus property for affordable housing. She explained that the ordinance’s adoption could also open the door for more affordable housing providers.

Girardot explained that purchasing market-rate properties to develop residences isn't feasible for Habitat, as it can make it difficult to figure out mortgages that are affordable for low-income families. There are also additional costs to upgrade older homes and fix properties in disrepair before a family moves in.

“By providing donated or discounted property, we can ensure that any upgrades that need to happen to the home adhere to Evergreen standards, ensuring that there’s energy efficiency so we aren’t passing along another debt to someone else,” Girardot says. “That’s a game changer for us.”

The Evergreen Sustainable Development Standard is a building standard in Washington that all affordable housing projects must adhere to if they receive capital funds through the state’s Housing Trust Fund program.

Jordan told his fellow commissioners that the most significant challenge for affordable housing developers is the cost of land, and shared examples of other government bodies repurposing surplus lands for affordable projects.

For example, he shared that Whatcom County transferred a surplus property of just under half an acre for $15 to a local nonprofit called the Opportunity Council in Bellingham. The nonprofit successfully turned the surplus lot into an apartment complex for seniors with a child care center in the building.

Jordan said he drafted the ordinance to be streamlined and minimally burdensome on the Assessor’s Office, unlike the city of Spokane’s similar policy, which has plenty of red tape.

“I looked at the city of Spokane process for surplus properties and affordable housing. It is layered thick with bureaucracy, committees, reviews, studies, and plans,” Jordan said. “It’s just really burdensome, frankly, and I tried to write the ordinance to be very much in line with our process here at the county.”

George Dahl, the administrator of Spokane County’s Housing and Community Development department, spoke about the potential to use affordable housing grants to mitigate potential revenue losses on any properties that would be appropriate to transfer from the county to other entities for affordable housing.

After the presentation on Tuesday morning, County Commissioners Al French and Mary Kuney were unsupportive of the ordinance.

Kuney expressed concern over the county’s “tight” budget and the need to feed into the general fund to help with the county’s existing services.

Typically, after properties are identified as surplus and go through auction, they’re sold at a market rate, and the revenue goes into the county’s general fund.

She also was unconvinced that the most effective use of affordable housing grant money is to renovate single family homes, versus investing in multi-family projects.

“Just because we have the opportunity to use grant funds doesn’t always mean it’s the best case for those grant funds,” Kuney said.

French said that the 549,000 residents who pay taxes expect the commissioners to be good stewards of the county’s assets, and he would not support giving away property.

He criticized state policy to restrict sprawl under the Growth Management Act, arguing that the policy born out of the act has driven up costs by reducing the number of properties available to build on.

“I’m not going to support putting into place more programs that will subsidize bad decisions,” French said. “And that’s what we’re doing, is we’re subsidizing bad decisions. If you want to lower the costs of housing, change the policies that have raised the cost. But don’t start tapping into other peoples’ pockets.”

Jordan believes the majority of the five-member board is open to the idea and hopes to revisit the proposal in coming weeks. He says there are ways to mitigate the financial impacts of the transactions and make them work with a case-by-case approach.

“Homelessness is a very expensive problem to respond to, there’s a cost to the taxpayers for not having affordable housing available, that has to be a part of the fiduciary analysis too,” Jordan said. “Having more opportunity for low-income families to get access to housing they can afford saves the taxpayers money by reducing the demand on our homeless system.”

During the commissioners’ legislative session later that day, they unanimously approved a public hearing on Dec. 3 about the intention to sell the Evergreen Road property as surplus. After that hearing, the commissioners will determine whether to move forward with an auction.

“I’m discouraged that we didn’t get a clear majority support today,” Jordan told the Inlander after the meeting, “but I remain hopeful that we’ll just keep moving forward and hopefully address any concerns that my colleagues have.”