Spokane, Airway Heights earn state grants to speed up housing construction

The cities of Spokane and Airway Heights have received around $560,000 in state grants to expedite the building permitting process.

The state Department of Commerce doled out $3 million to local jurisdictions to expedite the permitting process in an effort to increase housing supply – and therefore affordability.

“The hope is there will be a shorter and more transparent permitting process at the local level, which will then help build more houses across the state,” said Valerie Smith, who oversees grant administration as the commerce department managing director for growth management services.

Twenty municipalities around the state saw funding from $30,000 to $375,000.

Spokane’s grant of $375,000 will go towards the city’s efforts to digitize its permitting process.

While some applications are entirely digital, like for construction of single-family residences, some Spokane permit applications and reviews are done through a “hybrid” of digital and analog methods, said Tami Palmquist, development services center director with the city.

Parts of the hybrid system are “clunky,” Palmquist said.

“The new permitting system will have a customer portal that houses all of their applications in one place, so it’ll be easier to see where each of those are in the process,” Palmquist said. “They’ll also have the ability to contact their review team directly through that portal.”

Digitization is already underway, and the grant pays for around half of the city’s costs.

Building developers have previously called for the streamlining of the city’s permitting process.

“It’s going to help the bottom line, the quicker we can get housing permitted and constructed, the less the carrying cost for the contractor and property owner are, and they’re able to get that house on the market,” Palmquist said. “Time is money, as they say.”

With contractors able to complete projects quicker, it should help affordability of the homes they’re building, Palmquist said.

Triplexes and fourplexes, what’s known as multifamily middle housing, need the most help in affordability, Palmquist said.

Airway Heights received $187,500 in a separate grant to more generally consolidate its permitting process.

In the application, the city said it would use the funding to review and audit existing policies and procedures, fee schedules and permit timelines, Smith said.

“Sometimes the development regulations, like the codes and rules that apply to buildings, may need to be updated,” Smith said. “The funding can go to an audit of existing regulations to identify and correct barriers to housing development.”

Per the grant’s timeline, the city would complete its audit by July 2025.

Grant recipients committed to reviewing residential permit applications within 45 business days or 90 calendar days, a release from the commerce department read.

The funding comes from a bill passed in the 2023 Legislative session intended to improve affordability by expediting the housing development process.

“This is just one tool in our toolbox,” Smith said. “It’s not the end-all, be-all of housing affordability.”