Oregon passed statewide missing middle housing reform in 2019, as did California in 2021. Hopes were high that Washington State would follow suit in 2022 with HB 1782. Unfortunately, that will not be the case. Despite the full backing of Governor Jay Inslee and a poll showing strong public support for statewide missing middle housing reform, the Democratic-controlled legislature failed to garner enough support to get the bill for a floor vote before the house of origin bill cutoff on Tuesday.
So it appears for now, Washingtonians will not be seeing the duplexes, triplexes, and quadplexes that would have been possible to create under the bill arriving soon in their neighborhoods.
After acknowledging the bill’s demise, house sponsor Rep. Jessica Bateman (D-Olympia) tried to maintain a positive attitude. “Less of a goodbye. More like, we’ll see you soon,” she tweeted in response to supporters’ laments.
