OLYMPIA— Washington’s housing crisis is creating increasingly expensive homes and driving up the cost of rent in every corner of the state. Washington is currently 140,000 homes short of where it needs to be, and projections from Washington’s Department of Commerce show that one million homes need to be built over the next 20 years. To close the gap, the state must triple its pace of construction.
One bill to help address this housing crisis is Rep. Mia Gregerson’s (D-SeaTac) HB 1337. This is a bill that eases the construction and use of accessory dwelling units or ADUs. It was heard on the House floor as the clock struck midnight today and passed with a vote of 81-15.
“I introduced this bipartisan bill with Rep. Andrew Barkis (R-Chehalis) because we believe that ADUs provide flexible housing options for people of all ages,” Gregerson said.
ADUs can fill several roles, like providing a place for an aging parent to live instead of a nursing home. They can also be used as living quarters for a caregiver or a relative who requires care, or for an adult child who may need to return home after college, has lost a job, or for one of many life-changing moments. ADUs can also be used for additional finances for someone on a fixed income.
“It is a common-sense, cost-effective approach that will make good use of existing property throughout the state while easing the housing crisis,” Gregerson said. “We’ve got to reduce the cost to do that, and then of course have streamlined permitting processes so that once a family or a person wants to permit and build one, they’re not having to push through a ton of red tape and they can actually get the job done,” she added.
HB 1337 now heads to the Senate for further consideration.