The legislature finds that in order to address the housing shortage crisis in Washington, a more diverse mix of developers should have access to tax credit programs that incentivize the development of low-income housing. The legislature further finds that private developers have greater incentive to keep development costs down. The legislature further finds that a report published by the joint legislative audit and review committee found that private developers could develop the same unit at roughly 87 percent of the cost as a nonprofit developer and roughly 78 percent of the cost as a governmental agency. The legislature therefore intends to increase participation of private developers in the housing finance commission's low-income housing tax credit program in order to both increase the supply of low-income housing as well as further reduce costs.
The Washington state housing finance commission shall amend internal policies and project scoring criteria to increase participation of private housing developers in the nine percent low-income housing tax credit program administered by the Washington state housing finance commission pursuant to 26 U.S.C. Sec. 42.