Dear friends and neighbors,
Continuing with my updates from the 2025 session, I want to share more about the work we did in housing and community safety. These are consistently two of the top issues at town halls and constituent coffee chats. We all want to feel safe in our homes and in our neighborhoods, and I’m incredibly proud of the work we did this year to make that possible for more people.
|
|
There’s no single answer to making housing more affordable, but we’re approaching this with a framework of supply, stabilization, and support. That means making it easier to build housing, making housing costs more predictable for everyone, and providing support to keep people housed or get people into housing.
Over the last few years we have made a lot of progress, cutting red tape to make it easier to build and investing significantly in affordable housing, but there was still work to be done. This year we hit the ground running (literally, with a hearing for the rent stabilization bill on the first day of session) and were able to get a lot done. Including:
- Rent stabilization gives renters the same level of predictability that homeowners have, knowing what their rent will be into the future and protecting against drastic increases in rent that we know directly contribute to homelessness. Now that HB 1217 has been signed into law, rent increases are limited to 7% plus inflation, but no more than 10% annually. There is an exemption for new construction (12 years or newer) to help ensure we’re building the new housing we need to meet current and future demand in our state.
- Transit oriented development (HB 1491) creates development targets around rail and rapid transit stops, making it easier to build housing in areas with direct access to services. Removing parking minimums makes it significantly cheaper to build new housing with parking options that meet the needs of the community. Constructing parking spots can cost $5,000-$20,000 each for surface lots, and as much as $60,000 per spot in a garage, in places that need less parking that means more money and space can go towards housing instead.
I mentioned in my last e-newsletter that we were able to make some new investments in housing in our operating budget, including $118 million to help local governments keep shelter beds online, $6 million in youth homelessness diversion, and $3 million in tenant right-to-counsel programs.
Our Capital Budget, the state’s construction budget, didn’t have the same shortfalls that our Operating and Transportation budgets faced, and we were able to make a historic $782 million investment in housing and homelessness programs. That includes a record $605 million for the Housing Trust Fund, which builds affordable housing across our state. In fact, just this month I was able to attend the opening of Patsy Surh Place in Tacoma’s Lincoln District, a project funded by the Housing Trust Fund that is now providing 78 affordable apartments to seniors in our community.
There’s not enough space to cover everything we did for housing this session, but there are a few more pieces I want to mention:
- We expanded the Covenant Homeownership Program, recognizing that racist covenants and other discriminatory housing policy prevented people from buying a home and growing generational wealth, the impacts of which are still felt directly.
- We made it easier to finance affordable housing developments.
- We made it easier to convert commercial buildings into housing.
- We made it easier to split up lots so that more housing can be built in existing areas.
- We also strengthened enforcement to ensure that our cities are counties are following the laws that will help us site, build, or convert the housing we need.
|
|
Community safety was also a high priority for us this year. Ensuring that cities and counties have the resources they need to keep people safe is critical.
At the local level, we invested $100 million in one-time grants for law enforcement and $110 million for the Community Reinvestment Program to support economic development, reentry services, legal assistance, and violence prevention. I mentioned in my last newsletter that we also funded crime victim supports and public defense grants for local government.
We also passed a Permit to Purchase bill, HB 1163, which will require a permit to possess, transfer, or purchase firearms. Gun violence is preventable, and this legislation supports responsible gun ownership with training, background checks, and more.
HB 1052 helps make our hate crime laws more accurate and enforceable. The previous language caused confusion about when something becomes a hate crime, and this new language will help strengthen accountability and ensure justice for victims of these crimes.
Safer roads are also part of safer communities. This year we passed legislation to improve driver safety through increased driver education, and approved the use of speed limiting devices in vehicles for people with a history of excessive speeding or reckless driving.
Similar to the section on housing, there’s a lot more than I can fit into one newsletter. If you have any questions or ideas, please don’t hesitate to reach out to my office.