The Bellevue City Council met on June 28 and approved the Multifamily Tax Exemption program. According to the City of Bellevue, the provisions of this updated program will take effect during the week of July 12th.
The Multifamily Property Tax Exemption is an affordable housing incentive for new apartment developments in targeted areas of Bellevue. It provides a 12-year exemption from property taxes paid on the housing portion of qualifying projects in exchange for setting aside 20 percent of the units for income-eligible households.
Some of the major changes to the Ordinance include, requiring a three percent cap on annual rent increase for MFTE tenants remaining in the same-sized MFTE unit in the same project, not including parking rental costs in the affordable rent calculations, and shifting the baseline application deadline to 60 days after permit issuance.
Another major change is to expand Residential Target Areas to all areas zoned to allow multifamily use in the city.
For Downtown Bellevue, affordability is qualified for if household earnings are 80% or less of the King County median income, adjusted for household size. Any affordable unit of 300 square feet or less must be affordable to household incomes that are 45% or less of the median.
For further information, visit the City of Bellevue’s website.
