A glance through the bill chart below will give you an idea of how intense the 2023 legislative session was on affordable housing issues. At least twenty new session laws were the result – not counting the ones that did not bear on city interests.
Given the severity of the housing affordability crisis across the state, it was encouraging to see so much legislative interest in finding solutions. AWC knew that this would be an important year, putting together a Housing Solutions Group that made a set of sweeping and comprehensive proposals.
In our previous housing article, we took stock of those proposals and how many of them were reflected in the laws that the Legislature passed. Spoiler: the Legislature adopted a significant majority of them. We were able to get to support on the middle housing bill, HB 1110, that was so controversial last session. AWC was also able to lead regulatory reforms efforts on design review, SEPA, and permit processing, not to mention infrastructure investments.
Another policy of note, SB 5198 doubled the required length of notice for closure of a mobile home park and setting up a process to allow tenants an opportunity to purchase a park if it’s listed for sale.
The reason for the question mark in the title, however, reflects the one critical area that the Housing Solutions Group recommended that the Legislature did not act on – funding. While the budgets made very significant investments—by far the largest investments in affordable housing that were not driven by federal stimulus dollars—lawmakers were not able to find support to create durable, dedicated, and ongoing new revenues to build more affordable housing.
While the policy work done this year will hopefully bear fruit over time, most of the benefit will accrue to market rate development, unfortunately. While all housing supply is important and needed, cities know and strongly advocate that we need new and greater resources if we are to be successful in achieving the more than 500,000 affordable units that we are asked to plan for in the next twenty years. This piece of the puzzle still needs to be fit into place. Until then, the solution is still incomplete.
Bill # | Description | Status |
|---|
HB 1110 | Middle housing & density mandate | Law; effective July 23, 2023.* |
HB 1042 | Conversion of existing commercial and mixed-use buildings for residences. | Law; effective July 23, 2023.* |
HB 1046 | Increases AMI threshold for housing authority projects to 80%. | Law; effective July 23, 2023. |
HB 1250 | Low-income home rehabilitation program reform. | Law; Multiple effective dates, including an emergency clause. |
HB 1267 | Rural public facilities tax with workforce housing nexus. | Law; effective July 23, 2023. |
HB 1293 | Objective design review. | Law; effective July 23, 2023.* |
HB 1326 | Can waive utility connection fees for certain housing and shelter. | Law; effective July 23, 2023. |
HB 1337 | ADU mandate. | Gov. signed with partial veto. Effective July 23, 2023.* |
HB 1425 | New version of the annexation sales tax credit. | Law; effective July 23, 2023. May not impose tax until July 1, 2028. |
HB 1474 | Covenant homeownership program. | Law; various effective dates. |
HB 1695 | Broadens definition of affordable housing under surplus property law. | Law; effective July 23, 2023. |
SB 5058 | It’s not a condo! | Law; effective July 23, 2023. |
SB 5198 | New standards for mobile home park sales | Law; effective July 23, 2023. |
SB 5290 | Local permit review. | Law; various effective dates. |
SB 5604 | Amends HB 1406 (2020) sales tax credit to allow all cities to use revenue for rent assistance. | Law; effective July 23, 2023. |
SB 5258 | Increasing condos and townhouses for homeownership. | Law; various effective dates.* |
SB 5301 | Commerce housing programs. | Law; various effective dates. |
SB 5386 | Document recording fees. | Law; effective July 23, 2023. |
SB 5412 | Categorical SEPA exemption for housing development. | Law; effective July 23, 2023. |
SB 5491 | Residential building exits. | Law; effective July 23, 2023. |
HB 1026 | Local government design review. | Did not pass. |
HB 1078 | Urban tree and forest management. | Did not pass. |
HB 1111 | Housing benefit district. | Did not pass. |
HB 1149 | $4 billion bond bill and Workforce Housing Accelerator Loans | Did not pass. |
HB 1167 | Residential housing regulations. | Did not pass. |
HB 1245 | Lot splitting. | Did not pass. |
HB 1296 | Local permit review. | Did not pass. |
HB 1298 | Condominiums and townhouses. | Did not pass. |
HB 1343 | Affordable housing incentive program. | Did not pass. |
HB 1351 | Minimum parking requirements. | Did not pass. |
HB 1401 | Housing permit process. | Did not pass. |
HB 1402 | Urban growth boundaries. | Did not pass. |
HB 1449 | Project permits/reports. | Did not pass. |
HB 1519 | Local project review. | Did not pass. |
HB 1611 | Local government permitting. | Did not pass. |
HB 1628 | Affordable Homes Act. New REET sources to fund affordable housing. | Did not pass. |
SB 5202 | $4 billion bond bill and Workforce Housing Accelerator Loans | Did not pass. |
SB 5235 | ADUs | Did not pass. |
SB 5334 | Affordable housing funding. | Did not pass. |
SB 5364 | Lot splitting. | Did not pass. |
SB 5466 | Transit oriented development. | Did not pass. |
SB 5473 | Project permit timelines. | Did not pass. |
*Implementation dates are based on the date of the city’s next periodic comprehensive plan update required under the Growth Management Act.