SPOKANE, Wash. — The Washington Department of Commerce announced this week they are giving $3 million to 16 cities and counties across the state to streamline local building permit review processes.
The City of Spokane and Airway Heights will both receive funding from the grant.
“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.”
The City of Spokane received $375,000, the most money out of any city from the grant. Spokane’s money will help the city transition from paper filing to digital systems for processing permit applications. The Commerce Department says this change will make it faster and easier to address housing shortages.
“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. This synergy not only enhances our implementation process but also reinforces our commitment to meeting the goals of both the grant and our project. We feel incredibly fortunate to have these two initiatives align so well, and we are eager to move forward with this important work."
The City of Airway Heights will receive $187,500 to “streamline building permit review and remove barriers to housing development.” Recipients had to commit to issuing final decisions on residential permit applications within 45 business days or 90 calendar days.
