File #: 2019-0355    Version:
Type: Ordinance Status: Passed
File created: 8/21/2019 In control: Budget and Fiscal Management Committee
On agenda: Final action: 8/28/2019
Enactment date: 8/28/2019 Enactment #: 18973
Title: AN ORDINANCE authorizing, fixing and imposing a local sales and use tax at a maximum rate of 0.0146 percent or a lower rate as allowed by law for affordable and supportive housing as authorized by Chapter 338, Laws of Washington 2019; adding a new chapter to K.C.C. Title 4A; and declaring an emergency.
Sponsors: Claudia Balducci, Jeanne Kohl-Welles, Rod Dembowski
Indexes: Housing, Taxes
Code sections: 4A - .
Attachments: 1. Ordinance 18973, 2. 2019-0355 transmittal l etter, 3. 2019-0355 fiscal note, 4. 2019-0354_0355_SR_HousingSalesTaxSHB1406 ak v2, 5. 2019-0355_AMD1_ExpirationDates bar, 6. 2019-0354_0355_REVISED_SR_HousingSalesTaxSHB1406 ak v2
Staff: Soo Hoo, Wendy
Title
AN ORDINANCE authorizing, fixing and imposing a local sales and use tax at a maximum rate of 0.0146 percent or a lower rate as allowed by law for affordable and supportive housing as authorized by Chapter 338, Laws of Washington 2019; adding a new chapter to K.C.C. Title 4A; and declaring an emergency.
Body
PREAMBLE:
In November 2015, King County declared a state of emergency to address the homelessness crisis. Multiple studies have found that the rising cost of housing and lack of access to affordable housing are a primary root cause of homelessness in King County.
In December 2018, The King County regional affordable housing task force found that the region needs an additional 44,000 homes affordable for very low- and extremely low-income households over the next five years. The task force further determined that by 2040, the region will lack 244,000 homes affordable to our very low and extremely low income neighbors.
Additional funding is required to address the urgent need for affordable housing in King County.
In the 2019 Regular Session, the Washington state Legislature approved, and the Governor signed, Substitute House Bill 1406, which became Chapter 338, Laws of Washington 2019 ("the Act").
The Act authorizes the governing body of a county to impose a local sales and use tax for the acquisition, construction or rehabilitation of affordable housing, which may include new units of affordable housing within an existing structure or facilities providing supportive housing services under RCW 71.24.385, and for the operations and maintenance costs of affordable or supportive housing.
The tax will be credited against state sales taxes collected within King County and, therefore, will not result in higher sales and use taxes within King County and will represent an additional source of funding to address affordable housing needs in King County.
The metropolitan King County council has determined that imposing the sales and use tax to address this afforda...

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