The Puget Sound region faces a housing emergency that threatens our state’s quality of life, health and economic competitiveness. Each year over the past decade, affordability has declined, commutes have lengthened and our region’s ability to attract and retain talent has been put at greater risk. For some, the impact is even more serious. Ongoing homelessness puts lives at risk. First responders, teachers and firefighters can’t afford to live in the communities where they work.
As leaders at Amazon and Microsoft, we’ve helped advance unprecedented community-focused investments to address the shortage of affordable housing in our home state. Together, our two companies have committed $1.6 billion to preserve and build more than 26,000 affordable homes, benefiting the communities we live, serve and operate in. Not for our employees, but the entire community.
We are proud of the progress we’ve made and the partnerships we’ve helped forge. But more than anything, we’ve learned how much more our entire community needs to do to make housing more affordable in the Puget Sound region.
The lack of affordable housing is a complex problem. But its roots are straightforward. We simply don’t have enough housing today, and we need to build more homes of all kinds. This is a supply-side problem at its core. The best estimates predict the state will need 1 million additional housing units over the next 20 years, or 50,000 per year. While our companies’ collective efforts helped spur more investment, last year’s permit applications in Puget Sound suggest that the pace of construction is slowing down. In other words, the hole we’re in as a region is at risk of getting deeper.
We need governments and the private sector to build our way out of this hole. And as we’ve learned from our collective experience, this will require a broad approach.
The work is complex. Long-standing barriers — limited available land, overly cumbersome regulations and rising construction costs — hold us back. Our region has created an environment where it is too difficult, too expensive and too risky for housing developers, both nonprofits and for-profits, to build. Going forward, legislators must commit to a simple test: If a policy makes housing more costly or takes longer to build, don’t pass it. Consider an alternative. Enact policies that pencil in today’s market, not aspirational measures that might work down the line.
Other states are moving faster to reduce barriers and attract developers. Capital is fluid. Banks, investors and lenders are going where they can make predictable returns. We need to act as a region and state with urgency to turn this situation around.
This year, state leaders and policymakers are proposing good ideas that can help:
● Prioritizing Housing Funding: We applaud Gov. Bob Ferguson’s $225 million investment proposal for the Housing Trust Fund.
● Unlocking land for development: At the request of Gov. Ferguson, state Sens. Emily Alvarado and Jessica Bateman are sponsoring SB 6026, which would allow residential construction in zones where commercial use is allowed. Sen. Marcus Riccelli and Rep. Osman Salahuddin are also sponsoring legislation to increase land available for housing supply, which should be considered.
● Flexibility for developers: Reps. Davina Duerr and Janice Zahn are working to shift the timing of impact fee payment to reduce project financing costs and create a reliable process for impact fee collection.
● Environmental review near transit: Sen. Marko Liias is advancing work to initiate environmental review under the State Environmental Policy Act of zoning changes in Transit Oriented Development station areas. This will ensure consistent and streamlined environmental review to accelerate transit-oriented development.
● Encouraging Innovation: Sen. Jessica Bateman, along with Reps. Deb Manjarrez and Strom Peterson, are championing efforts to accelerate innovative housing solutions — streamlining approval for home designs and easing standards for modular construction.
Our companies will continue to invest capital and expertise in Washington’s housing future. We’re committed to working alongside legislators, nonprofit and for-profit developers, and communities to turn these proposals into lasting solutions.
This will require coordinated action and measurable results. Imagine a region where everyone who works here can afford to live here, and where public-private partnerships drive lasting change.
The time to act isn’t someday. It’s now.