Converting existing buildings into low-income housing is a lot more cost effective than building new structures, Island County officials decided.

As a result, the county commissioners adopted an amendment to an ordinance last week clarifying that the county’s one-tenth of 1% sales tax to support housing can be used for the purchase and rehabilitation of existing dwelling units for affordable housing.

The commissioners stressed that the amendment to the 2022 measure doesn’t create any new taxes but just adds language to make the use of tax dollars clearer.

The issue was brought up at a commissioner workshop meeting in April when the board decided to grant the Housing Authority of Island County a $1.4 million grant from the affordable housing fund to purchase and repair a six-unit apartment in Coupeville, which will be converted into low-income housing

Commissioner Melanie Bacon supported the action but said she was concerned because the board originally told the citizens that the sales tax dollars would only be used to build new housing. A staff member pointed out that the wording of the ordinance allows them to purchase existing properties, but Bacon and the other commissioners said they wanted to be transparent with the community.

“The board really wanted to clarify its intentions to the community,” Commissioner Jill Johnson said last week. “That’s really the reason for another public hearing on the issue, because we want to be clear about where tax dollars are going and how they can be used.”

Johnson explained that the commissioners originally wanted to ensure that the money would be used to add to the overall number of housing units in the county. But since the tax was passed, they realized that the purchase of current units, which are often deteriorating, was a better use of the money.

She pointed out that a new construction project on South Whidbey in which the county is partnering with Goosefoot will cost $600,000 a unit. The Coupeville project with rehabilitated apartments is about $233,000 a unit.

The county has supported affordable housing with a variety of funding sources in the last few years as the issue has been a priority for elected officials. In all, projects that received county funds over the last four years could provide well over 200 housing units.