Housing Incentives
The City of Vancouver is working to increase housing production and expand the supply of affordable housing. To meet current and future demand, Vancouver needs to build roughly 2000 units per year over the next 20 years.
To achieve this goal, Vancouver’s Housing Action Plan is:
- Updating land use codes to allow for more housing construction
- Changing policies and requirements to streamline the development process
- Increasing direct investment and incentives through the Affordable Housing Fund, Multifamily Tax Exemption program, Construction Sales Tax Deferral program and Community Development Block Grant program
- Reducing development fees
- Expanding programs to support affordable homeownership opportunities
- Advocating for increased funding and changes to regulations that limit new housing production at the state and federal level.
Recent policy changes
The Vancouver City Council recently adopted six new policies to reduce development timelines and make development more affordable.
Impact fee and system development changes (SDC) payment deferral
Starting on September 18, 2025, the City of Vancouver will change the required payment dates for impact fees and system development changes (SDCs) on multifamily housing projects. Instead of paying fees at the time of a building permit application or system connection, developers will be able to defer fees until they apply for a Temporary Certificate of Occupancy.
By deferring payment until a project is nearing completion, developers can save an average of 24 months of interest on these fees. This reduces project costs during construction and decreases risk for lenders and investors.
Multifamily Tax Exemption (MFTE) Program incentive
To encourage construction of multifamily and affordable housing, the MFTE program provides a limited-time property tax exemption: 8 years for market-rate housing and 12 years for income-restricted housing.
MFTE application fees are waived until summer 2027. Developers can also defer fee-in-lieu payments for market rate projects until six years after occupancy. This deferral saves substantial interest costs for the developer and allows new projects sufficient time to achieve stabilization before paying the fee.
Elimination of minimum parking requirements for affordable housing
In July 2025, the City updated its parking code to eliminate off-street parking requirements for all projects that provide at least half of units to households that earn at or below the area median income (100% AMI) for a minimum of 10 years.
This change puts Vancouver in compliance with state mandates to eliminate minimum parking space requirements on affordable housing, senior housing, daycares and ground floors of mixed-use buildings.
Flexibility to waive ground floor requirements for new multifamily developments
Ground floor retail requirements are now waived for multifamily projects in commercial zones which do not front an arterial or collector street. This will allow for additional ground floor housing units at multifamily development sites that are not well-suited to support new retail.
Shorter development review timelines
The City has decreased engineering permit review timelines to help accelerate development:
- First review cycle: 28 calendar days
- Second review cycle: 21 calendar days
- Third review cycle: 14 calendar days
These revised timelines will move projects forward more quickly while maintaining the quality and thoroughness of our reviews.
Simultaneous building permit review during plat recording
The new Residential Early Permit Submittal process (REPS) allows developers to submit single-family residential building permit applications for processing and review prior to final plat approval.
Developments that require subdivision of a single parcel into individual lots have historically been delayed in waiting for the recording of the short plat subdivision before submitting applications for building permits.
Allowing developers to submit building applications during the short plat review process saves significant time for subdivision projects. Projects must have received preliminary plat approval and civil engineering plan approval before applying for a building permit.
Contact
For more information, contact Vancouver’s land use planning team at cddplanning@cityofvancouver.us or 360-487-7803.