Published February 6 2026
Plus, Inclusive Innovation program update, collection of code amendments and Black History Month
During Tuesday’s meeting, the City Council reviewed the public draft of the 2026-2032 Affordable Housing Strategy and gave preliminary feedback on staff recommendations. The city’s Office of Housing is planning to hold two additional public information sessions on the draft strategy before returning to the council with updated recommendations.
Bellevue’s Affordable Housing Strategy, first adopted in 2017, provides a roadmap for the city to continue to expand citywide housing opportunities. It offers a range of tools, funding and policy options to help meet housing needs over the next seven years and beyond, particularly for households earning lower incomes.
The strategy update was launched by the city council in November 2024 and has been informed by significant engagement with community members and organizational partners, including more than 650 residents and 60 organizations. Over the last 15 months the project has emphasized innovative and language-accessible events, like Bellevue’s first ever Better Cities Film Festival that took place in 2025.
For more information, see the meeting details or visit engagingbellevue.com/2025-affordable-housing-strategy to review the full draft Affordable Housing Strategy.
Inclusive Innovation program update
Staff from the Information Technology Department shared an update about the Inclusive Innovation program launched last year. Grounded in the council’s vision and supported by Capital Improvement Program funding, the initiative fosters innovation through collaboration among government, businesses, nonprofits, academia and community members.
The initiative in 2025 included the Innovation Exchange and the Civic Innovation Challenge. The Exchange, at City Hall in October, brought together 275 participants for keynotes, interactive sessions and workshops. The Challenge led to the city contracting with four businesses to pilot solutions in areas like AI-powered compliance dashboards, smart lighting systems and mobile item lookup tools.
Teams focused on digital equity, policy development and ecosystem growth, achieving five goals set in mid-2025. Highlights include the council adoption of an innovation resolution and framework, an AI workshop for small businesses, adoption of community-informed AI policies and support of an international Smart City Hackathon at Bellevue College.
Looking ahead, Bellevue plans to expand partnerships, launch a second Civic Innovation Challenge and host the next Innovation Exchange in June. These initiatives aim to strengthen regional collaboration, enhance digital equity and position the region as a place where innovation thrives.
Details regarding innovation programs at the city are available in the agenda materials and on Bellevue’s website.
Council initiates work on collection of code amendments
The council also initiated work on a collection of land use and city code amendments that are part of an ongoing effort to keep codes accurate and easy to use. In the past, these updates—called omnibus amendments because they combine multiple small code changes into one streamlined process—have typically focused on minor fixes such as correcting typos or outdated references.
The 2026 Omnibus Amendments have an expanded scope that includes relatively minor changes needed to comply with new state law and minor updates that support existing city policies, such as recently adopted middle housing code.
The package includes updates to the land use code, which will be reviewed by the Planning Commission, and related changes to the city code. Once reviewed, the full package will come back to the council for final consideration later this year. The last clean-up of this kind was completed in 2022. Additional details are available in the meeting materials.
Proclamation for Black History Month
In other business, the council proclaimed February as Black History Month in Bellevue, and highlighted Melodies of the Diaspora, an art exhibition open to the public for viewing at no cost in February at Bellevue City Hall and the Bellevue Arts Museum building during business hours.