Affordable housing planning grants

We've developed the Affordable Housing Cleanup Grant Program to help advance environmental cleanups for affordable housing developments. This program includes both cleanup and planning grants. The Affordable Housing Planning Grants (AHPG) can cover initial and remedial investigations; community involvement plans; and project feasibility, including planning, investigative, and technical work needed to proceed cleaning up contaminated sites. The purpose of the AHCGP is to expedite the cleanup and redevelopment of contaminated sites into affordable housing use and lessen the impact of cleanup costs.

Learn more: We presented information about the Affordable Housing Cleanup Grant Program at the Fall 2021 Housing Washington conference. The 50-minute recording includes questions and answers at the end.

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Funding cycle

Amount of funding available: $1.6 million
Grant award limit: $400,000 total eligible cost
Amount of matching funds required: No match for local governments and nonprofit organizations; 25% match for private developers

Applications are not being accepted at this time.

Due to limited funding, this grant type is not being offered for the 2025-27 biennium. If this grant type is offered in 2027-29, revised eligibility and scoring criteria will go out for public comment prior to the solicitation for applications.

If you have questions about a potential cleanup project for affordable housing development and whether it qualifies for an AHCG, contact Laurie Dahmen.

Funding is available for the following entities:

An Affordable Housing Planning Grant can be awarded to public, private, or nonprofit entities that are considering cleaning up a contaminated site for affordable housing end use.

Environmental site assessments
Remedial investigations
Feasibility studies
Community involvement
Site planning

More information about this funding program

Cleanup Grants Supporting Affordable Housing

The competitive Affordable Housing Cleanup Grant program started in the 2023-25 biennium. Since then, Ecology has conducted three solicitations and awarded a total of 14 grants. While many projects are making great progress, several others are no longer moving forward. Based on an external review and lessons learned, Ecology is proposing a restructure and renaming of the grant program. Project funding would be awarded each biennium in two phases, one competitive and the second based on substantive progress.

Additional related links:

Cultural resource review

For ground-disturbing remedial actions to be eligible for grant funding, Ecology or another state or federal agency must consult with the Washington Department of Archaeology and Historic Preservation and affected Tribes before cleanup actions begin. Read more about our cultural resource review requirement.