Community Asset Inventory: A Guide to Local Housing Resources

The cities of Olympia, Lacey, and Tumwater, Thurston County, Washington State, and the United States as a whole have struggled to address the housing crisis and connected rent burden crisis. Attempts to address the housing crisis have consisted of statewide property tax exemption efforts for multifamily housing developments and additional extensions of tax exemptions for multifamily housing developments that include an amount of affordable housing, local rezoning efforts to promote the “missing middle” housing supply of duplexes, triplexes, fourplexes, and townhomes, local allowances of Accessory Dwelling Units on single family housing properties within municipalities, and an increase in housing support services and transitional housing for unhoused populations.

Our local communities have responded to the housing crisis and policy proposals that impact their ongoing ability to stay in their community, including the development of grassroots organizations and nonprofits hopeful to advance and support further affordable housing development in their city. In recent years, cities such as Seattle have begun the process of developing social housing: public housing available to households making up to 130% of the Area Median Income with rents limited to 30% of household income. Nationally, more communities are becoming aware of the potential benefits of social housing for their community in combating the affordable housing crisis. This community asset inventory serves as a resource to describe our current affordable housing landscape and assist local community organizations in advancing policies to combat the housing crisis such as social housing. This resource serves as a starting point for future work and publications about the Olympia-Lacey-Tumwater, and Thurston County more broadly, affordable housing environment. If you have interest in being involved in future community asset inventorying of Olympia, Lacey, and Tumwater’s affordable housing assets, sign up here. If you have interest in keeping up to date with future publications relating to this work, sign up here.

Understanding Community Assets

This community asset inventory is based on an Asset-Based Community Development methodology (4_Essential_Elements_of_ABCD_Process_529969028.pdf). Its purpose is to identify assets currently existing within our community that may be used, capitalized upon, and further developed to address our community’s needs. This community asset inventory specifically focuses on assets relating to affordable housing development in Olympia, Lacey, and Tumwater. Asset categories analyzed for this community asset inventory include financial assets, infrastructure assets, natural assets, political assets, and social assets. Asset categories remaining for future analysis include cultural assets and human assets. Future work pertaining to this community asset inventory includes community surveying, organizational interviews, and presentation of the original findings for community feedback and direction of future work.

Data sources for this community asset inventory consisted of the Thurston Regional Planning Council’s Housing Needs Assessment, City of Olympia publications and policies, Thurston County geodata and maps, the Washington State Recreation and Conservation Office’s Public Lands Inventory, US Census data (primarily the OnTheMap resource), and American Community Survey data. Some data was not found, such as a directory of municipal property in Olympia, Lacey, and Tumwater, or Thurston County owned property.

Purpose and Research Questions

This community asset inventory serves as a resource and reference for community members and organizations to analyze the current housing landscape of our tri-city area, identifying what assets currently exist in our communities to serve as a starting point for future community development in these areas. Questions to be addressed in this community asset inventory are:

• What affordable housing assets resources currently exist in our community?

• Where are there gaps in services and/or housing in our community?

• How do our current assets line up or differ from our area’s projected growth and housing needs in the future?

Asset Framework and Categories

Categorizing assets is an important part of a community asset inventory and its usefulness to the community it serves. The asset categories analyzed for this community asset inventory include financial assets, infrastructure assets, natural assets, political assets, and social assets. Financial assets consist of grants, loans, and other public programs available for the development or maintenance of affordable housing in the Olympia-Lacey-Tumwater tri-city area. Infrastructure assets consist primarily of public transportation and also include other public works available to the community that assist in housing affordability. Natural assets include our public parks, waterways, and green spaces that make our communities and housing developments livable and sustainable. Political assets consist of policies supported by municipalities and the county that contribute to the advancement of current affordable housing and potential future social housing development. Social assets consist of community organizations and nonprofit organizations that provide resources and services related to affordable and social housing.

Community Asset Inventory – Financial Assets

Several state programs exist to support the development of affordable housing in Washington. The Washington State Housing Finance Commission provides tax exemptions, bonds, loans and grants via federal and state funding sources, such as the Low Income Housing Tax Credit and the Washington State Housing Trust Fund (OHHP_2023_Consolidated Plan_6.3.24.pdf pg 28-31). Through the Housing Authority of Thurston County, low-income residents have access to housing vouchers such as the Housing Choice voucher (formerly known as Section 8), Veterans Administration Supportive Housing (VASH) voucher, Non Elderly Disabled (NED) voucher, Emergency Housing Voucher, and Mainstream voucher. Below is a detailed list of grants, bonds, loans, tax credits and vouchers available in the Olympia-Lacey-Tumwater municipal areas.

Community Asset Inventory – Infrastructure Assets

Infrastructure assets for affordable housing consist of both the nonprofit affordable housing programs in the Olympia-Lacey-Tumwater municipal areas, housing made available through the Housing Authority of Thurston County, and the infrastructure present that make affordable housing projects possible and successful such as access to transit services and library access. Olympia-Lacey-Tumwater benefits from a free transit system via Intercity Transit, allowing access to the county’s bus system free of charge for all residents.

Community Asset Inventory – Natural Assets

The natural assets of the Olympia-Lacey-Tumwater area are paramount, our area's natural beauty spans from the Puget Sound, through our waterways and green spaces. These areas are a collective good for all of us, and access to these assets are necessary for the wellbeing of all, including low-income tenants. These are assets to be preserved and supported, as well as considered in future affordable and social housing projects in regard to community access and livability of housing projects.

Community Asset Inventory – Political Assets

The political assets of affordable housing in the Olympia-Lacey-Tumwater area consist of the policies, plans and projections of the municipal governments and county government. The Thurston Regional Planning Council publishes a Housing Needs Assessment for the Olympia-Lacey-Tumwater area, data related to future population projections, and employment distribution and projections for the area.

Community Asset Inventory – Social Assets

The social assets of Olympia-Lacey-Tumwater relating to affordable housing consist of our area's many community organizations currently engaged in affordable housing related work in our municipalities. These range from service providers to membership-based organizations promoting affordable housing policies in our area. The goals and purposes of these organizations vary, but what unites them is the recognition of the need for more access to affordable housing for our communities.

Conclusion

The housing landscape of Olympia, Lacey, and Tumwater continue to evolve. Our cities, county, and community recognize the growing need for more affordable housing development to meet our current and future housing supply projections.