March 10, 2021 6:57 am
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BELLINGHAM, Wash. — The Bellingham City Council is considering a new sales tax dedicated to building and maintaining affordable housing.
Council member Dan Hammill says the one-tenth of one-percent tax would raise about $3 million per year.
The money would go toward building more projects like Samish Commons on the site of the old Aloha Motel, which Hammell says is getting people off the street.
A portion of Bellingham property taxes has been paying into an affordable housing fund that’s built over 600 units since 2012.
But Hammill says rising costs are pushing that fund toward a fiscal cliff that it will go over in 2023.