SPOKANE, Wash. — Spokane City Council is considering a proposal that could designate more than a dozen new apartments in the city as affordable housing.
A construction site in East Central Spokane is set to become home to more than 50 multifamily residences, part of a broader effort to address the city’s housing shortage.
The Spokane City Council is expected to vote Monday night on whether some of these units will be classified as affordable housing, a move welcomed by many local advocates and neighbors.
“We have an incredible shortage when it comes to affordable housing and housing in general in Spokane,” said Chauncey Jones, executive director of Take Up the Cause, a nonprofit that works to establish more affordable housing in Spokane. “Any programs that help amplify and build more affordable units are very necessary. It’s welcomed.”
The city’s multifamily tax exemption program incentivizes developers to build below-market-rate units by offering a short-term property tax break.
Steve Macdonald, Spokane’s director of community and economic development, said the program has already resulted in more than 2,600 affordable units.
“This really helps incentivize developers by giving them a short-term property tax exemption for the units that they provide that are less than market,” Macdonald said.
If approved, the new measure would ensure that over a dozen apartments in the East Central project are rented at rates affordable to those earning 80 to 115% of the area’s median income.
Residents say the addition of affordable housing is crucial for the neighborhood’s growth.
“I have lived up here for quite a long time, and it has kind of been put on the back burner for many years,” said Stephen Hannum, who lives in East Central. “I think it’s going to be great for the community to have something like this and the opportunity to live here at that cost and be able to afford to put food on the table.”
More than 700 multifamily units were approved in Spokane in 2024 and are currently under construction, with city officials expecting that number to rise.
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