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South Sound Housing Affordability Partners
In the fall of 2018, County Executive Dammeier, Tacoma Mayor Woodards, and County Councilmember Ladenburg convened local elected officials in a roundtable discussion around housing affordability in Pierce County. The discussions focused on what can be done collectively in Pierce County to address housing affordability and attainability for residents of all income level, while acknowledging each jurisdiction's unique housing market and challenges. The 'Mayor’s Roundtable,' as it was originally called, conducted a series of meetings on:
- Local housing affordability data and needs;
- Individual jurisdiction needs and housing types;
- Incentives and needs of housing developers and what kinds of incentives are valued for spurring the creation of additional units including affordable units;
- How other local governments have partnered to achieve results, what tools have been effective, and what lessons have been learned; and
- What is the path forward and how to continue collaborating to move the issue of housing affordability and attainable housing forward?
In 2019, the Mayor’s Roundtable group began calling itself the South Sound Housing Affordability Partners (SSHAP). Overtime, SSHAP collectively decided to move forward with both short- and long-term action items. In December of 2019, SSHAP members agreed to engage a consultant to explore developing a regional coalition around housing affordability.
Short Term or "Act Now" items:
- Begin coordinated lobbying in 2020;
- Begin compiling centralized library of relevant housing policies and best practices:
- Inventory publicly owned land in Pierce County land for possible use as housing; and
- Compile list of affordable housing funding sources.
Consultant Work:
- Determine interest level in a coalition;
- If interest, then what type of coalition model is preferred; and
- Development of an interlocal agreement formalizing the coalition.
- Recommendations to legislative authorities for approval.
In collaboration with several local governments, the County selected the Cedar River Group as the consultant to explore the development of a formal regional coalition. In 2020 the consultant worked with a group comprised of staff of several local governments and a Steering Committee comprised of local elected officials on the structure, budget, and work plan of the coalition. The recommendation on the structure, budget, and work plan of the coalition was brought forward to the full SSHAP group of elected officials in December 2020. In December 2020, the full SSHAP group agreed to move forward with a draft interlocal agreement with these key elements:
- The SSHAP coalition will be governed by an Executive Board comprised of elected officials (or other designated officials) of the members' governments. Each member will have one vote on the Executive Board;
- The SSHAP coalition will have an Advisory Board comprised of key housing stakeholders;
- Pierce County will act as the administrative entity and fiscal agent;
- SSHAP will include 1.5 staff to provide services to all member governments; and
- SSHAP will be structured to include the possibility of creating a capital fund.
Next steps:
- Complete a draft interlocal agreement for review (First Quarter);
- Presentations to the Councils of governments that have expressed an interest in joining SSHAP (First and Second Quarters);
- Approval of interlocal agreement by the Councils of the governments that wish to join (Second Quarter);
- Hire SSHAP Executive Manager (Third Quarter); and
- Begin SSHAP work (Third Quarter).
Steering Committee
Bruce Dammeier, Pierce County Executive
Victoria Woodards, Mayor of Tacoma
Ryan Mello, Pierce County Councilmember
Kim Roscoe, Mayor of Fife
Nancy Backus, Mayor of Auburn
Josh Penner, Mayor of Orting
Julie Door, Mayor of Puyallup
Kit Kuhn, Mayor of Gig Harbor
Annette Bryan, Puyallup Tribe Councilmember
Don Anderson, Mayor or Lakewood
Other Contributors
Pierce County | City of Tacoma | City of University Place |
City of Puyallup | City of Sumner | City of Gig Harbor |
City of Auburn | Town of Steilacoom | Puyallup Tribe of Indians |
Town of Fircrest | City of Fife | City of Edgewood |
City of Orting | City of Dupont | City of Buckley |
City of Bonney Lake | City of Lakewood |