According to the Downtown Spokane Partnership Housing Action Plan study, Spokane should adopt a 10-year housing development target of 3,200 more market-rate housing units in downtown Spokane.

The Downtown Spokane Partnership unveiled findings from the comprehensive new housing study, conducted by Seattle-based consulting firm Community Attributes Inc., on Sept. 8. The study was funded by $50,000 in American Rescue Plan Act dollars allocated by the city of Spokane in 2024, says DSP President and CEO Emilie Cameron.

“There were two really big goals for us,” Cameron says. “We wanted to really understand, what does a healthy downtown look like? What does that mean? And we wanted to set some goals. What is a tangible target for us that we should be aiming toward?”

Downtown Spokane currently contains just over 2,900 housing units. Of those, 44% are affordable to residents earning 80% or less of the area median income, explains Cameron. The remaining 56% are market-rate units. While this supports lower-income populations, she adds, the study found that this imbalance contributes to a lack of housing diversity.

“Community attributes identified that a healthy mix in a downtown is an 80/20 mix, which makes sense,” Cameron says. “You'll find that in a lot of housing projects. We're at 56/44. That means we're not at that healthy mix. (Community Attributes) identified within the boundaries of the housing study area, in order to achieve that healthy mix, we need to build 3,200 market-rate units.”

Recommended actions in the study include prioritizing the development of workforce housing, which is affordable to households earning 60% to 120% of area median income, and market-rate housing — above 80% of area median income — to support a balanced and vital housing mix.

“There are 81 opportunity sites to build,” says Rae-Lynn Barden, director of policy and memberships at DSP. “So, we're talking not only in-fill projects, maybe lot conversions, removing the height restrictions, and a lot of office-to-residential conversions. We have about 445, give or take, units in the pipeline right now as we've been monitoring things."

Barden says, if fully realized, these projects could significantly increase the downtown population, with the downtown neighborhood potentially reaching 10,000 residents within 15 years.

Cost, Cameron says, remains the most significant hurdle to new development. The study outlines several policy tools to ease the financial burden, including multifamily tax exemptions, the Pavement to People program — an incentive for converting parking lots to housing — office conversion initiatives, and zoning changes.

To set benchmarks, Community Attributes compared Spokane to mid-sized peer cities with similar demographics that have aggressively pursued downtown housing initiatives, Cameron says.

Comparable cities identified in the study include Chattanooga, Tennessee; Des Moines, Iowa; Boise, Idaho; and Portland, Maine.

The full 54-page study is available on DSP's website.