General FAQs

There is a housing shortage in King County, and the region continues to grow in population. This results in low vacancy rates, a lack of housing choices for residents seeking to move, and increased competition for the limited supply of homes that are available. When competition is high, housing prices and rents will increase. A Housing Action Plan will help the City do what it can to prepare and plan for the housing needs of the community to mitigate the impact of such competition. 

• A low-income housing plan. The Washington State Department of Commerce provided Grant funding to complete this plan. This department states that the goal of the HAP is to “encourage construction of affordable and market rate housing.” Additionally, this is specifically to include “…strategies aimed at the for-profit single-family home market.” The intent is to look at the broad spectrum of housing needs and supply.    
• A financial assistance program for low-income households (or any household for that matter). HAP stands for “Housing Action Plan,” not “Housing Assistance Plan.” The grant funding provided by the Washington State Department of Commerce is to prepare the HAP. When the plan is completed the city will then decide, among the policy and strategy recommendations, which to implement based on available resources. The results will not include starting a housing financial assistance program.
• A plan to rezone areas of the City to allow for higher-density multi-family developments.
• The HAP will not result in approval of low-income or market-rate housing development projects for construction. As part of routine responsibilities, the City reviews (and if found to conform to laws and regulations) authorizes development projects. This is a separate City function, however, and is unrelated to the HAP.

Make sure to check this page frequently for updates. We will be using various tools on this site to gather feedback from residents and those with a vested interest in Auburn. Also, be sure to sign up for email updates about this project. A sign-up button is located on the project page in the upper right hand corner.  

“Affordable housing” is a commonly used measurement that refers to when a household spends less than 30% of the household’s income on housing (i.e. rent plus utilities, mortgage plus utilities).