September 6, 2023

Final Housing Element Guidance Published and Draft Displacement Risk Map

Please note: Commerce will host a webinar tomorrow, Thursday, September 7, 2023 from 1-2 p.m. to show the Draft Displacement Risk Map, briefly explain the methodology, and get feedback and answer questions. Please register today for tomorrow's webinar. 

Final Housing Element Guidance Published

In 2021, the Washington Legislature changed the way communities are required to plan for housing. House Bill 1220 (2021) amended the Growth Management Act (GMA) to instruct local governments to “plan for and accommodate” housing affordable to all income levels. The amended law also directed the Department of Commerce to project future housing needs by income bracket. Commerce has provided these by county as the basis to plan for housing in the housing element of their comprehensive plans.

Commerce has finalized the guidance for updating housing elements based on the Legislative changes. The guidance is incorporated into three “books” to help users find what they need as they complete their comprehensive plan update.

• Book 1: Establishing Housing Targets for Your Community – covers countywide planning policies, countywide projections of housing need from Commerce, and how to use the Housing for All Planning Tool (HAPT) for allocating projected housing needs to individual jurisdictions.
• Book 2: Guidance for Updating your Housing Element – updates 2021 guidance including land capacity analysis and adequate provisions requirements for all housing needs.
• Book 3: Guidance to Address Racially Disparate Impacts – provides new guidance on how to identify and address racially disparate impacts, exclusion, displacement and displacement risk in a housing element with a recommended 5-step process.

An overview of the content of each book is available in recorded webinars on Commerce’s Updating GMA Housing Elements webpage. We encourage jurisdictions to review this material before they start their comprehensive plan update.

Please contact Laura Hodgson with any questions or if you would like her to present on the updated requirements at a local planning commission or city/county council meeting. Laura can be reached at laura.hodgson@commerce.wa.gov or 360-764-3143.

Support Materials and Feedback Requested on Draft Displacement Risk Map

Commerce has developed a Racially Disparate Impacts (RDI) Data Toolkit to provide jurisdictions with a base level of data to help identify racially disparate impacts and exclusion. RDI data is available for 2024 jurisdictions. Data for 2025-2027 jurisdictions is forthcoming.

Commerce has also developed a Draft Displacement Risk Map to support jurisdictions with the new housing element requirements. This map will help jurisdictions “identify areas that may be at higher risk of displacement from market forces” (RCW 36.70A.070(2)(g)). For those jurisdictions in the central Puget Sound area, this memo explains how the Commerce map supplements the regional displacement risk map.  

Commerce is requesting feedback on this map and the methodology. Commerce will host a webinar tomorrow, Thursday, September 7, 2023 from 1-2 p.m. to show the map, briefly explain the methodology, and get feedback and answer questions. Please register today for tomorrow's webinar. Please send questions and feedback about the map and methodology to Laura Hodgson at laura.hodgson@commerce.wa.gov by September 29, 2023.

About Commerce

Commerce works with local governments, businesses, community-based organizations and tribes to strengthen communities. The department’s diverse portfolio of more than 100 programs and effective public and private partnerships promote sustainable community and economic development to help all Washingtonians thrive. For more information, visit http://www.commerce.wa.gov. For information on locating or expanding a business in Washington, visit choosewashingtonstate.com.

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