2004/11/17 Council Agenda Packet

EVERETT CITY COUNCIL AGENDA ITEM COVER SHEET - PROJECT TITLE: Consent COUNCIL BILL# Resolution addressing County- X Action Originating Department Planning wide Planning Policy regarding First Reading Contact Person Allan Giffen "fair share"distribution of low Second Reading Phone Number 257-8725 income housing in the update Third Reading FOR AGENDA OF Nov. 17, 2004 of Everett's Growth Public Hearing Management Comprehensive Initialed by: _ Plan. Department Head `4iolor CAA _. Council President � r/ Location Preceding Action Attachments Department(s) Approval City Comprehensive Resolution; Snohomish Planning N/A Plan adopted August, County Tomorrow report Legal 1994 Amount Budgeted N/A Expenditure Required None Account Number(s): Budget Remaining N/A Additional Required N/A DETAILED SUMMARY STATEMENT: The Growth Management Act(GMA)that requires all cities and counties to provide for the housing needs of all economic segments of the community. There is also a Countywide Planning Policy(CPP)that requires the county and cities "to prevent further concentration of low income and special needs housing into only a few areas." This CPP was adopted,in part,because Everett insisted that we not continue to be the host of 30% of the county's low-income households when we only have 15% of the county's population. The Planning Advisory Committee(PAC)for Snohomish County Tomorrow(SCT)has recommended use of a formula to indicate the unmet housing need in each community.Unmet housing need is defined as the number of households in the community that pay more than 30% of their household income for housing and make less than 95% of median income. The formula was developed in the mid-1990's pursuant to the CPP mentioned above. There was not universal agreement on what should be measured or how cities could use the information in a meaningful way to address the problem. The discussion at the October SCT meeting evoked general concern about providing land use strategies or financial resources to meet the target numbers without substantial funding assistance available for low income housing providers. The attached resolution: 1)declares Everett's intention to meet the housing requirements of GMA and CPP's;2) recommends use of the SCT fair share housing formula only as an"indicator of need"; 3)recommends development of a more understandable countywide approach to addressing unmet housing need in future updates of comprehensive plans; and 4)encourages all cities and the County to adopt land use and housing strategies in their own comprehensive plans to achieve a more equitable distribution of low-income housing throughout Snohomish County. RECOMMENDATION (Exact action requested of Council): Adopt Resolution declaring Everett's intent to consider the Fair Share Housing Allocation developed by Snohomish County Tomorrow only as an "indicator of need"in the update of its Growth Management Comprehensive Plan. 6