Boosting Housing Production Pipeline: $3M Grants for Permit Streamlining

Photo byBreno AssisonUnsplash

Sixteen Washington cities and four counties will receive $3 million to streamline local building permit reviews, the Washington Department of Commerce announced on Monday.

The money, according to Commerce, will help create digital permitting processes and consolidate permit reviews, cutting back the time needed to process and approve residential building permits.

"It will take solutions from all angles to address the projected need for more than a million new housing units in communities across Washington over the next 20 years," said Commerce Director Mike Fong. "These grants will help modernize and streamline the way residential building permits are processed, reducing delays, cutting down on paperwork and helping us meet that urgent need for new housing."

Recipients will commit to issuing final decisions on residential permit applications within 90 calendar days, Commerce reports.

The seven communities below received permit review grants.

• City of Airway Heights: $187,500
• City of College Place: $170,500
• City of Mukilteo: $100,000
• City of Wapato: $89,219
• Town of Yarrow Point: $187,500
• Pierce County: $187,500
• Skagit County: $187,500

Paper to Digital Grants, meanwhile, supports cities and counties transitioning from paper filing to digital systems for processing permit applications, Commerce reports.

The 13 communities below received Paper to Digital grants.

• City of Anacortes: $197,335
• City of Arlington: $183,000
• City of Buckley: $80,000
• City of Carnation: $100,000
• City of La Center: $194,500
• City of Lakewood: $240,000
• City of Lynden: $140,000
• City of Port Townsend: $60,000
• City of Snoqualmie: $117,811
• City of Spokane: $375,000
• City of University Place: $30,000
• Jefferson County: $94,000
• Lewis County: $78,635

"We would like to express our appreciation for the grant award we recently received," said Tami Palmquist, City of Spokane Development Services Center Director. "It arrived at a key moment as we just began the implementation of our new permitting and licensing system last month. We are thrilled to report that we were able to align the grant deliverables with the objectives already established in our project scope."