Staff recommended four priority actions for Kenmore's Housing Strategy Plan update ahead of the June 16 Planning Commission meeting
A staff memo prepared for the June 16, 2026 Planning Commission meeting identified four priority actions for the Housing Strategy Plan update and asked commissioners to confirm them and authorize further work.
What the records say
Materials for the June 16, 2026 Planning Commission meeting included a staff report on the 2026 Housing Strategy Plan (HSP) Update 1. Staff and A Regional Coalition for Housing (ARCH) developed twelve candidate actions to implement the Comprehensive Plan's Housing Element, evaluated each against six feasibility criteria (cost, capacity, efficacy, alignment, time scale, and schedule), and recommended four as near-term priorities 1. The four recommended priority actions are: Manufactured Home Community Preservation; Housing on Faith-Based and Public Surplus Lands; a Calibrated MFTE and Inclusionary Zoning package for Downtown and TOD areas; and a Community Housing Outcomes Report 1. Staff asked the Commission to confirm or adjust the four priorities, provide direction on sequencing, and authorize staff and ARCH to develop scopes, schedules, and resource estimates to support a future recommendation to the City Council 1. The packet does not record what the Commission decided at the June 16 meeting 1.
- Staff and ARCH developed twelve candidate actions for the Housing Strategy Plan update, ranging from cost-to-build auditing and a permit-ready ADU catalogue to community land trust partnerships and modular housing review 1.
- Four actions were recommended as near-term priorities: Manufactured Home Community Preservation, Housing on Faith-Based and Public Surplus Lands, Calibrated MFTE and Inclusionary Zoning for Downtown and TOD areas, and a Community Housing Outcomes Report 1.
- Staff requested that the Commission confirm or adjust the priorities, give direction on sequencing, and authorize development of scopes, schedules, and resource estimates for a future Council recommendation 1.
- The memo notes the 2017 Housing Strategy Plan predates the 2024 Comprehensive Plan update, which established housing goals the updated HSP is meant to implement 1.
Why it matters
The priority actions point to where Kenmore's housing policy work is headed: preserving manufactured home communities as unsubsidized affordable homeownership, opening city and faith-based surplus land for affordable housing, tying income-restricted units to Downtown and transit-oriented development, and adding annual public reporting on housing progress 1. Residents in manufactured home communities and renters in areas slated for higher density have the most direct stake, since the memo cites near-term displacement risk and income-restricted unit capture as the rationale for those priorities 1.
What changed / what's next
- The June 16, 2026 Planning Commission agenda included a Housing Strategy Plan item with a staff memo and recommended-actions attachment, and the accompanying staff report laid out twelve candidate actions with four recommended priorities 1.
- The supplied records are pre-meeting materials; they do not establish whether the Commission confirmed the four priority actions or what direction it gave staff on June 16 1.
- Staff indicated the prioritized actions would eventually support a recommendation to the City Council, so any Council action on scopes, schedules, or funding would be the next decision point to track 1.
- The available records do not establish the meeting's outcome.