Housing Authority would buy free-market homes for workforce resale

The Housing Authority is set to consider a new preservation program that would buy free-market homes, keep them as rentals for a time, and then sell them as workforce homes to qualified households after three to five years, according to the Housing Supply Plan Staff Report and Data Metrics Packet. The packet says the Housing Preservation Program is meant to permanently preserve 25 homes over five years, building on the county's $850,000 in 2019 SPET funding for preservation work.

That program has long been framed as a way to keep existing homes in local hands rather than waiting for new construction to solve the county's housing shortage. The Housing Supply Plan says the county should continue pairing new development with preservation tools, and that the preservation program requires households to meet local employment and documentation standards before they can buy into the program.