With the entire state facing a housing crisis, Washington should create a state Department of Housing, according to legislation by Rep. Melanie Morgan (D-Spanaway).
“It is said that education is important to a living wage, but without housing, it means nothing,” Morgan said. “I am asking this committee to support this effort for our children, for our future homeowners, and for the well-being of our state.”
Time and again, the state has expanded efforts to increase availability of housing, provided rental assistance, and built and funded more shelters for those experiencing homelessness. But the number of Washingtonians without a home of their own continues to climb.
House Bill 2270 has broad support in the House Democratic Caucus and passed out of the Housing Committee with a vote of 8-5 on Tuesday. If passed into law, it would set the state on a path to establishing the first state Department of Housing.
“It has been reported that 1.1 million units of housing is needed to end homelessness and increase homeownership. The intent of the proposal is to create a holistic approach to housing to achieve this goal so that we can improve our coordinated efforts using our state, local, and federal resources, and have a single voice on how we direct those resources in the most efficient manner,” Morgan said. “With a new department focused solely on housing and homelessness programs and services, we will go from a broad patchwork to a one-stop-shop.”
In 2021, there were more than 1,005 people in Pierce County in shelters, which only includes numbers reported by shelters, not those sleeping in cars, on the streets, or “couch-surfing” with friends or family members. The 2023 Point-In-Time Count in Pierce County showed that 36 percent of people who were homeless were women, 7 percent had children, and 41 percent were Black, Indigenous, or people of color.
The bill requires the Office of Financial Management to contract with an external consultant to study the transition of state housing programs to a new state agency, analyze existing state and federal funding streams for state housing programs, and submit a report to the Legislature and the Governor by July 1, 2025.
The bill now heads to the Appropriations Committee for consideration.
“Time and again, the state has expanded efforts to increase availability of housing, provided rental assistance, and built and funded more shelters for those experiencing homelessness. But the number of Washingtonians without a home of their own continues to climb.”
OK. So lets do more of what doesn’t work: the definition of insanity.
Please stop conflating homelessness with home ownership (either as owner or tenant). They are completely different issues and trying to solve one problem inappropriately with the alleged solution to another is muddled thinking.
The homeless typically have more of a problem with what’s in their head (drugs, mental illness, poor decision making) than what’s over their head. The correlation is homelessness AND mental health. Take care of that and the housing market will take care of itself if only government would get out of the way.
Spending more tax money to solve problems (both homelessness and housing shortage) that are largely the result of misguided government policies is a fools errand.
This sounds like adding another level of bureaucracy that isn’t needed because something like it is already in place. Adding another level will require more taxes. There is seemingly no end to this state’s voracious appetite for more money. Will the proposal for a new real estate tax fund this bill if passed?
This seems similar to the “border problem” down south. Some advocate the revision of our current immigration policy. Why not just enforce the policies currently in existence? Then they ask for more money to hire more border agents. Why? To hire more agents to act as concierges to assist illegals into the country? Surely not to prevent them from coming in illegally.
This is a bad, bad idea.
As Margaret Thatcher famously said,” Socialism works until you run out of other people’s money”.
Those being elected to government in the western half of this state are communists plain and simple.
Name one who made a significant success of themselves before running for public office and gaining access to the public purse.
These same characters funneled many millions of COVID relief funds to illegal immigrants while Mom and Pop businesses suffered and died under their draconian closures and threats of arrest for non-compliance.
The virtue signaling is nauseating.
Indeed! The more you subsidize certain behaviors the more you can expect to get those behaviors! This truism goes for homelessness behaviors and as we are finding out illegal immigration behaviors. Make that behavior more attractive and it will increase. The solution is to disincentivize such behaviors and you will get less of them. Basic behavioral science. The response will most likely involve those behaviors moving elsewhere where they are subsidized or ultimately their extinction when subsidy no longer exists.