Today, Governor Jay Inslee rolled out another big initiative, this one focused on housing and homelessness services. King County Executive Dow Constantine, Seattle Mayor-Elect Bruce Harrell, and Tacoma Mayor Victoria Woodards joined Inslee for a press conference at a Habitat for Humanity build site in Seattle.
The strategy would direct federal Covid relief funds to efforts to prevent and mitigate homelessness, but it also seeks to tackle housing affordability via zoning reform. Governor Inslee has backed a statewide zoning reform that would require local jurisdictions to allow duplexes, triplexes, and fourplexes within a half-mile of “major transit stops in large cities.” The supplemental budget also aims to create 2,600 units of permanent supportive housing.
“I believe the Governor has given us the tools to really excel in this area,” Harrell said, noting he had appointed a deputy mayor to focus on housing and homelessness exclusively. That hire was announced Monday and will be Tiffany Washington, who also served in the Durkan administration and worked as division director of homelessness at the Department of Health and Human Services.
The funding will need to be approved by the state legislature, although the majority of it is one-time federal funding.
“Inslee’s plan looks to spend about $815 million, with more than two-thirds covered by federal coronavirus funding the state has received,” AP News’s Rachel La Corte reported. “His proposal looks to build on nearly $2 billion of state and federal money that was approved by the Legislature earlier this year for housing and homelessness programs.”
‘Missing middle’ zoning reform
A new policy brief describes the Governor’s approach, which on the zoning front will be carried forth in a bill sponsored by State Senator Mona Das (D-Kent) and Representative Jessica Bateman (D-Olympia), who successfully led on zoning issues as an Olympia councilmember. (That work helped earn her an endorsement from The Urbanist Elections Committee when she ran for State Representative.)
