Across Cascadia, high rents and home prices are leaving people behind. Local governments struggle to meet this massive challenge of politics and funding. In response, this year Washington state legislators are stepping up with a remarkably comprehensive suite of housing bills.
Tackling a housing affordability crisis calls for three main fixes: more homes; more funding for affordable homes; and more tenant protections. Impressively, Washington lawmakers have proposed bills that do all three.
Alone, each of these strategies is insufficient; together, they form a balanced approach. In growing cities without enough homes for all the people who want them, building more homes of all shapes and sizes holds down average rents and prices, and that helps everyone. Increased funding for subsidies delivers more homes to those who still can’t afford what the market can provide. And tenant protections safeguard those with the least housing security—renters—insulating them from rapid change.
Senate Bill 5838 Passed sponsored by Senator Hans Zeiger of the 25th district (Puyallup) voted 44 to 2.
The bill is the first of it’s kind in Washington to adopt federal building standards changed last year APPENDIX Q. We believe that it will make tiny homes a legal product in Washington and allow for cities like Tacoma who recently updated the city code to allow for ADUs to be built detached from main home structure to allow a tiny house on wheels in the city limits.
5383 Speaks to allowing tiny homes on wheels, container homes and other non-conforming structures to be allowed in a community like setting and saying counties/cities should not discriminate from creative housing solutions.
We’re proud to be supporters of these bills and will be down in Olympia Tomorrow Tuesday the 19th at 945am.
keep up to date here! https://app.leg.wa.gov/billsummary?BillNumber=5383&Year=2019
Come down and let’s fill up the room again one more time for the house committee to vote to move it forward to the floor.