HomeMy WebLinkAbout041221_cabs02 JEFFERSON COUNTY
BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS
AGENDA REQUEST
TO: Board of County Commissioners 9 y(
FROM: Philip Morley, County Administrator r
Lizanne Coker, Homeless Housing Task Force cilitat
DATE: April 12, 2021
RE: 1590 Sales Tax Award Recommendations of Joint Oversight Board
STATEMENT OF ISSUE: The Board of County Commissioners will consider the
recommendations of the Joint Oversight Board regarding the future use funds collected under
the House Bill 1590 Sales Tax to support the 43 units Low Income Housing project to be located
at 7th & Hendricks as proposed by Olympic Community Action Programs (OlyCAP).
ANALYSIS: Under a 2018 Interlocal Agreement Jefferson County and the City of Port Townsend
created and participate in a five-member Joint Oversight Board (JOB) to make
recommendations on affordable housing and homeless housing services and on the use of
recording fees collected by the County Auditor on recorded documents dedicated for those
services. Under the Interlocal Agreement, the JOB also established a Homeless Housing Task
Force of community stakeholders to help the JOB do its work. One responsibility was creating
and helping to conduct a process for evaluating housing proposals in preparation for allocating
the funds to eligible organizations and activities. With the BOCC's adoption of the House Bill
1590 Sales Tax in December of 2020, the City and County have indicated they intend to update
and amend the 2018 Interlocal Agreement to also include the use of revenues from House Bill
1590, but have not yet had an opportunity to do so. Additionally, Housing Task Force is
currently preparing a team to examine the possible grant process for the 1590 funds to
distribute grants in 2022.
In the meantime, OlyCAP's 7th & Hendricks Project is at a critical juncture for funding its project.
With an $11.3 Million grant from the Washington Housing Trust Fund plus additional funding
sources identified by OlyCAP, there remains a funding gap of$400,000-$600,000 remaining to
fully fund the $15.2 Million cost to construct the project. Without closing this gap in the near
term, the other 99% of funding and the entire project are in jeopardy. OlyCAP approached
Jefferson County to utilize a portion of the HB 1590 funds to close this gap. In turn, the County
first consulted with the region's affordable housing provider organizations to determine if the
housing providers believed the 7th & Hendricks request was consistent with their Affordable
Housing Strategy developed and presented to the County Commissioners last year. The
unanimous response from all five organizations was "yes." Next,the County referred the 7th &
Hendricks request to the Housing Task Force and the Joint Oversight Board for a
recommendation. The JOB recommends the use of these new funds from HB 1590 to address
this need now, within the timeframe necessary for the project to succeed.
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On February 10 and March 10, 2021, the Housing Task Force met and reviewed the 7th &
Hendricks Project funding request. On March 24, 2021, the JOB reviewed the work of
the Housing Task Force and approved a motion regarding the future use of 1590 Sale
Taxes Funds regarding years of 2021 and 2022. The Joint Oversight Board voted to
approve a recommendation to the Board of County Commissioners that the County
award Olympic Community Action Programs a minimum award of$500,000 with a cap
of$600,000 for the 7th & Hendrix Housing Project over the period of 2 years to cover the
gap created by the non-award of the Tax Credits from the Department of Commerce.
FISCAL IMPACT: In December of 2020, the County passed the 1590 Sales Tax of 1/10 of 1%for
Affordable Housing. Those new revenues are estimated to result in $350,000 dollars for
revenue in 2021 and $600,000 in revenue in 2022.
RECOMMENDATION: Staff recommends that the Board of County Commissioners direct staff
to prepare a grant contracts for up to $600,000 using HB 1590 revenues in 2021 and 2022 for
subsequent approval by the County Commissioners.
REV A:
/ter
Philip Morle runty Administrator Date
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