“We are in crisis, and we should act like it,” the report on proposed actions to spur housing production notes.
A new housing action plan created by a subcommittee on Governor Bob Ferguson’s transition team recommends a broad number of strategies that Washington can adopt to step up the pace of housing production. At the top of the list? Requiring cities to pursue a strong transit-oriented development policy that encourages builders to add homes close to high-capacity transit lines like light rail and bus rapid transit lines.
The transition team’s housing subcommittee was chaired by Lieutenant Governor Denny Heck, and was tasked with coming up with housing priorities for the incoming Governor’s first 100 days in office, which coincide with the state legislative session. During the 2024 campaign, Ferguson pledged to oversee the production of 200,000 new units of housing during his four-year term — a figure that is actually in line with current housing production rates — and on his first day in office, he signed an executive order asking for a statewide review of policies that impact housing production.
“We are in crisis, and we should act like it,” the report states. “While it is true that the housing shortage is also a nationwide challenge, the sad fact is that Washington State has one of the biggest supply shortages. By one measure – the housing unit shortage as a percent of the total stock – Washington State is sixth from the bottom in America. This is not a distinction we should seek or accept.”
The report emphatically promotes the idea of allowing more homes near frequent, high-capacity transit, noting that such a strategy can reduce housing costs and also household transportation costs, often the second biggest expenditure a family makes.
“There is no single housing policy that can produce more homes, for a range of incomes, than a TOD [transit-oriented development] policy that moves high-density housing past simply being zoned for, to actually being constructed – by up to 70 percent more production,” the report states. “During this moment in which we are making historic investments in high-capacity public transit, we must pass a TOD bill that works for developers and provides for mixed-income communities. This needs to be a top priority for the 2025 session.”
It cites research completed in 2023 by the Urban Institute showing that building more than five units on a property is only currently allowed on less than 60% of the land near transit throughout Puget Sound. “Major transit investments could transform regional mobility, but local rules currently limit housing growth,” the Urban Institute’s researchers noted. “Most housing is built in neighborhoods zoned for multifamily housing, but about one-third of station adjacent land is zoned for only single-family homes. Almost 50 percent of this land requires at least one parking spot per unit, adding to housing costs.”
The transition team’s report comes on the heels of the introduction of a transit-oriented development bill at the legislature for the third year in a row. Sponsored by Rep. Julia Reed (D-36th, Seattle), House Bill 1491 would force cities to allow larger apartment buildings within a half-mile of light rail, commuter rail, and streetcar stations and within a quarter-mile of bus rapid transit (BRT) stations. Reed’s bill ties those increases in housing capacity with a requirement that 10 to 20% of new homes within newly densified areas be made available to residents who make less than an area’s median income.
But the transition team’s report questions the policy choice of mandating affordability without also providing any funding to offset the costs of those subsidized units, citing The Urbanist’s reporting on concerns raised about affordability mandates implemented by Redmond late last year. A number of other cities around the region, including Woodinville and Bainbridge Island, are considering implementing affordability mandates locally.
“Many cities throughout the Puget Sound region have, at least on paper, zoned some transit areas for high-density housing. However, we have yet to see these zoning changes result in large numbers of new TOD projects breaking ground,” the report says. “Builders and developers cite regulatory costs as barriers to getting TOD projects to break ground. Fees and affordability mandates for TOD projects without funding to offset those costs can unintentionally prevent high-density housing from ever being built.”
By contrast, the inclusionary zoning (IZ) program in Portland, Oregon includes a property tax break that makes up the difference between rents for market-rate units and those that have had their rents capped. Within Washington, Shoreline’s program also includes a tax break via the Multifamily Tax Exemption (MFTE) program.
While Reed characterized the idea of the House passing a transit-oriented development bill without an affordability mandate as “fantastical,” its inclusion could cause the bill to run into trouble in the state Senate. A funded affordability mandate could represent a compromise, but asking local governments to forego property tax revenue could also prove a dicey proposition. While the report calls out TOD policy as the most substantive policy move that Washington could pursue, getting the details right will matter quite a bit. And with local Comprehensive Plans already in the process of being adopted across central Puget Sound, timing of implementation will play a big role as well.
Overall, the full housing action plan embraces a number of housing policies already under consideration at the legislature, including reform of local parking mandates, easier administrative approvals for lot-splitting, and reform of how local governments are held accountable for violating their own Comprehensive Plans. A number of these policies are already getting push back from representatives of local government this session, upset about losing local control even as many readily admit the scope of the housing crisis.
The report also supports the concept of rent stabilization, a major priority for both the House and Senate Democratic caucuses this session and a divisive issue for many urbanists. But it calls for an exemption on new construction be extended from the 10 currently under consideration to 15 years, and for a statewide bill to preempt any local rent stabilization policy to create a more predictable regulatory environment.
“Rent stabilization needs to be paired with TOD and the many other policy ideas presented throughout this report that will build more homes of all kinds for all our neighbors, especially affordable homes,” the report says. “In this way, we can balance protecting renters from predatory rent increases, consistency and clarity for housing providers, and the increased supply of housing that we know stabilizes rents.”
Ultimately, the report represents a call to action, two years after Heck declared the 2023 legislative session the “Year of Housing.”
“It is clear from the evidence that unless we act boldly, we will continue to just tread water or worse – fall further behind. Housing production is an ecosystem and addressing just one part of it is a recipe for failure,” Heck wrote to the Governor in delivering the recommendations. “Housing production is also a long-term proposition. The life cycle from conceiving a housing project to actually handing someone a key to their new front door is long. We are best served by thinking in terms of The Decade of Housing ahead. One session is simply not enough time to complete years of work.”
Ryan Packer has been writing for The Urbanist since 2015, and currently reports full-time as Contributing Editor. Their beats are transportation, land use, public space, traffic safety, and obscure community meetings. Packer has also reported for other regional outlets including Capitol Hill Seattle, BikePortland, Seattle Met, and PubliCola. They live in the Capitol Hill neighborhood of Seattle.