Affordable Housing Trust Fund Program

Overview

The Affordable Housing Trust Fund (AHTF) was established by the Snohomish County Council through Ordinance 02-065, adding a new Chapter 67 to Title 4 SCC.  Funding for the AHTF derives from state law (Substitute House Bill 2060) that requires county auditors to collect a $10 surcharge on certain document recordings.  Auditors began collecting the fee on June 13, 2002.  Auditors may retain up to 5 percent of collected funds for the administration of this recording fee.  Forty percent of the remaining funds are returned to the state for use by the Office of Community Development to support operating and maintenance costs for housing projects affordable to extremely low-income persons with incomes at or below 30 percent of area median.  The remaining 60 percent of the funds is retained by the county and must be used by the county and its cities for housing projects affordable to very low-income persons with incomes at or below 50 percent of area median.

Snohomish County has signed Interlocal Agreements with the cities and towns located in the county to form an AHTF Consortium.  The Office of Housing, Homelessness and Community Development administers the AHTF funds on behalf of the AHTF Consortium.  Fifteen percent of the annual AHTF resources collected annually are set aside to support operations of emergency shelters and licensed overnight youth shelters.  Of the funds remaining, 21% is distributed to the City of Everett to allocate to eligible housing activities located within the city limits through a separate Interlocal Cooperation Agreement.

Eligible Activities:

AHTF resources can be used for a wide range of housing projects and programs. These include:

• Acquisition, construction, or rehabilitation of housing projects or units within housing projects affordable to very low-income persons;
• Support building operation and maintenance costs of housing projects or units within housing projects built with housing trust funds, affordable to very low-income persons;
• Rental assistance vouchers for housing projects or units within housing projects affordable to very low-income persons; and
• Operating costs for emergency shelters and licensed overnight youth shelters.

For information about the application process, please see the Housing applications web page.