The Vancouver Housing Strategy strives to keep Vancouver a vibrant, livable place for all current and future residents by creating and preserving affordable and market-rate housing
VANCOUVER — On Friday, Governor Jay Inslee announced the city of Vancouver’s Housing Strategy as a winner of the 2019 Smart Communities Award. The city’s Affordable Housing Fund was the recipient in the “Smart Choices Award” category which recognizes excellence in implementation of a comprehensive plan that promotes smart growth planning and projects that contribute to thriving communities, a prosperous economy, and sustainable infrastructure in Washington.
“I am thrilled that the city has been recognized for its work dedicated to meeting our community’s housing needs across a broad economic spectrum, including the needs of Vancouver’s most vulnerable low-income residents,” said Mayor Anne McEnerny-Ogle. “The Housing Strategy has employed innovative incentives and zoning changes to foster housing development and played a strategic role in addressing our affordable housing and homeless crisis through direct funding and renter protections.”
The Vancouver Housing Strategy strives to keep Vancouver a vibrant, livable place for all current and future residents by creating and preserving affordable and market-rate housing. It also implements zoning initiatives to increase density and expand the range of available housing types, and leverages partnerships with the Vancouver Housing Authority, nonprofit housing providers and private developers to meet housing needs.
Among the City’s several initiatives, the Affordable Housing Fund is considered a particularly innovative solution that could serve as a model for other communities. The fund was created when Vancouver voters approved Proposition 1 in the November 2016 general election, providing funding for the purpose of buying, building and preserving low-income rental housing and preventing homelessness through rental assistance and other housing services.
For more information on the Governor’s Smart Communities Awards, including the state of Washington’s Growth Management Act, visit www.commerce.wa.gov/growth. To learn more about the City of Vancouver’s Affordable Housing Fund, visit www.cityofvancouver.us/affordablehousing.
