One of the key housing related bills advancing this session, HB 1923, passed the Senate over the weekend. Amendments made on the floor of the Senate contain our advocated-for provisions to retain local decision-making authority, provide the necessary flexibility to address cities’ unique housing challenges, and include resources to assist with the cost of implementation.

AWC has a long-standing priority around affordable housing and supports a variety of approaches to achieve those goals, including the role of local land use policy. That said, we think that cities are already doing a lot locally to find ways to address these issues. The amended version of HB 1923 recognizes that, while also incentivizing cities to take further action—such as providing grant funds to support enactment of local housing policies or to develop a housing action plan.

The amended HB 1923, if concurred to by the House, makes the following changes to the previous version:

Large structural changes

• Removes the requirement for cities with a population between 20,000 and 40,000 to take at least one action, and cities with a population over 40,000 to take at least two actions to increase residential building capacity by April 1, 2021. Actions are now voluntary but incentivized.
• Encourages cities planning under the Growth Management Act (GMA) to take actions to increase residential building capacity, including options related to upzoning, authorizing a greater variety of housing types, and utilizing options for regulatory streamlining.
• Exempts specific ordinances, amendments to develop regulations, and other nonproject actions to increase residential building capacity taken prior to April 1, 2021 from appeal under SEPA or legal challenge under GMA.
• Provides funding via a $2.50 document recording fee. Specifies that the estimated $2.5 million annually generated will fund grants to local governments and to the Washington Center for Real Estate Research until 2024. After that point, sufficient funding must be provided for the real estate study, but then the remainder is provided to support affordable housing investments in cities that have taken action under the bill.
• Authorizes the Department of Commerce (Commerce) to award grants of up to $100,000 to cities for actions listed in the bill, including developing a housing action plan. Authorizes grants in excess of $100,000 for applications with extraordinary potential to increase housing supply or regulatory streamlining.

Additional policy changes

• Removes from the list of actions the following eligible options:
  • Requiring no more than one onsite parking space per two bedrooms in certain multifamily zones near fixed guideway transit stations;
  • Forming or joining existing subregional partnerships to promote affordable housing to comply with requirements to increase residential building capacity;
  • Authorizing at least a 20 percent density bonus when at least 10 percent of the units are provided for affordable housing to comply with requirements to increase residential building capacity.
• Directs Commerce to develop criteria to ensure grant funds are awarded proportionate to a city's effort and potential to increase housing supply.
• Adds that the initial Washington Center for Real Estate Research report must be completed by October 15, 2020, and must include the percentage of cost-burdened households and data relating to actions cities have taken to increase residential building capacity.
• Provides for restrictions on minimum residential parking requirements for certain low-income, senior, and disabled households constructed after July 1, 2019.
• Removes the restriction that a local ordinance may not charge a higher per unit impact fee for multifamily than for single family residential construction.
• Removes the restriction that a local ordinance may not impose more than $50,000 for an impact fee.
• Removes the requirement that if a city only chooses two actions it may not select options to increase density near rail and bus only, unless those options are in different geographic areas.
• Removes a null and void clause requiring specific funding in the budget.