King County honored by HUD for efforts to increase affordable housing

June 29, 2005

King County honored by HUD for efforts to increase affordable housing

King County is pleased to be one of 14 local governments, and the only county, chosen to receive the first annual Robert L. Woodson Jr. Affordable Communities Award presented by the US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). Former County Councilmember Cynthia Sullivan is in Washington , D.C. on behalf of King County Executive Ron Sims to receive the award from HUD Secretary Alphonso Jackson at a special ceremony today. The award recognizes King County ’s ongoing work and leadership in reducing regulatory barriers to affordable housing development.

“Eliminating unnecessary barriers to creating affordable housing is essential to preserving and enhancing the livability of our region,” said King County Executive Ron Sims. “King County is pleased and proud to receive this national recognition of our efforts to increase affordable housing by streamlining our permitting processes, increasing the efficient use of buildable lands, and reducing development costs while still keeping important environmental regulations in place.”

In announcing the award, Secretary Jackson said, "It's important to recognize and reward communities that assume a leadership role to encourage the production of affordable housing. Across this great nation, local communities are removing barriers to affordable housing and opening more doors to homeownership for hard working families." King County was selected as a recipient of the Woodson Affordable Communities Award in recognition of efforts taken since adoption of the Washington State Growth Management Act in 1990 to plan for housing that is affordable for all segments of the community. Among these efforts, King County has taken significant steps to reduce barriers by broadening the range of allowed housing types, increasing code flexibility and reducing permit review times. Regulatory barriers are defined as public statutes, ordinances, regulations, fees, processes and procedures that significantly restrict the development of affordable housing without providing a commensurate health or safety benefit.

Beginning with the adoption in 1993 of the new zoning code, Title 21A, King County has broadened the range of affordable housing choices allowed by zoning through expanded opportunities for townhouses, accessory dwelling units, manufactured housing and mixed-use development. Last year King County continued these efforts by creating new opportunities for cottage housing units no greater than 1,200 square feet in size that are located in small clusters around a common green space.

Additional efforts taken by King County to expanded opportunities for affordable development in urban areas include regulatory reforms such as repealing minimum lot size requirements and supporting clustering and transfer of development rights.

During the last several years King County has worked to reduce the burden of the permit process by instituting the residential BASICs permit program (which allows individual unit building permits to be issued for pre-approved master plans in an average of less than two days), making permit services available by appointment on Saturdays, and reducing average wait times for permit information to under a minute. In addition, the number of units triggering environmental review has been increased from four to 20.

With the leadership of Ron Sims, as a former Councilmember and as County Executive , and the efforts of the Metropolitan King County Council, including former member Cynthia Sullivan, King County has taken a variety of steps to boost housing densities, increase choice of housing structures and types, and expedite the region’s housing regulatory process.

These efforts have helped mitigate the effects on housing prices seen in California , Nevada and other neighboring states. Over the last 10 years, homes in the Seattle areas have maintained their relative affordability compared to homes nationwide. For example, The Housing Opportunity Index (HOI), prepared by the National Association of Home Builders, showed that a household earning local median income in 1993 could afford 63% of the homes for sale in the Seattle market area. This compared to a nationwide index indicating that a household earning national median income could afford 65% of all sales nationwide. Thus, homes in the Seattle area market were similar in affordability to those nationally. In 2004, the HOI showed that a household earning local median income in the Seattle area market could only afford 52.5% of all homes offered for sale. However, nationally the HOI had shown a similar reduction indicating only 54.8% of all national sales were affordable to those earning median income. As a result, though housing affordability has decreased in Seattle and nationwide, it appears that the Seattle area market has maintained its relative affordability over the past decade for prospective home buyers.

These accomplishments have been achieved in partnership with many public, private and non-profit partners including all of the individual communities in King County and the collective efforts of the Puget Sound Regional Council and the Growth Management Planning Council. King County is supported in its affordable housing efforts through the special efforts of A Regional Coalition for Housing (ARCH), the Housing Development Consortium of Seattle/King County and the Housing Partnership.

For more information on the Woodson Award, please call Allan Johnson, Housing and Community Development at 206-205-6482.