North Slope communities gain new property tax tools for housing relief

North Slope communities now have a new set of local property-tax tools on the table after House Bill 13 became law without Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s signature. The measure gives boroughs and cities permission to offer targeted exemptions, but leaves each community free to decide whether any break fits its own housing market.

The law was transmitted to the governor on June 4, 2026, and became law on June 22, 2026. It takes effect Sept. 20, 2026, and its enrolled title covers optional municipal exemptions for long-term rental units, mobile home parks, real property rented to low-income families, real property owned and occupied as a permanent place of abode, real property owned by first-time homebuyers, and property owned and occupied by volunteer emergency responders. One part of the bill specifically allows municipalities to exempt or partially exempt structures converted from short-term rental use to exclusive long-term rental use.

The borough’s comprehensive housing plan says all North Slope villages are short on housing of all types, with the lack of affordable housing made worse by limited rental options and few paths to ownership. The borough’s housing summit in Anchorage on Jan. 22-24, 2025 brought together more than 150 stakeholders. Borough officials have made local homeownership a focus.

A 2017 Alaska Housing Finance Corporation summary estimated 2,513 housing units and a 4.7 percent vacancy rate for the borough. The borough’s own comprehensive plan put the figure at about 2,609 dwelling units in 2015 and 3.1 percent unoccupied. In late 2025, North Slope school officials also sought staff housing at village sites.

Any exemption would also mean less property-tax revenue for local governments, so borough leaders would have to weigh housing relief against the money that supports services in places like Utqiaġvik, Nuiqsut, Atqasuk, Point Hope, Wainwright, Kaktovik and Prudhoe Bay.