How unfinished housing reform business will spill into WA's 2024 legislative session

Washington state lawmakers hope to keep at last some of the momentum going from 2023, which many called "the year of housing."

But with a budget shortfall and short legislative session, their goals for 2024 are more modest.

2023 was a year like none other in recent history. "We got a lot done," said Representative Strom Peterson (D-Edmonds), head of the housing committee.

A lot of the energy came from the House of Representatives, where a bipartisan team led the charge for statewide legalization of backyard cottages (also known as accessory dwelling units or ADUs). Another bill legalized "missing middle housing" like duplexes and townhomes in neighborhoods currently dominated by single-family homes.

When those bills were signed into law, they overcame years of resistance by cities whose mayors voiced public support for more housing but often failed to allow enough housing to be built.

Cities have not yet adopted those changes into their zoning codes. But in Olympia, lawmakers don't plan to wait before enacting more reforms. Many cities across the state are, at this very moment, hammering out comprehensive plan updates that will chart their future growth for 20-plus years.

Peterson said short session or not, in 2024 lawmakers hope to finish some of 2023's unfinished housing reform business. He highlighted a few examples:

1. A bill sponsored by State Rep. Andrew Barkis (R-Olympia) would let homeowners make some extra money by selling their backyard to a developer. Barkis proved instrumental in several of 2023's successful housing reform bills, working across the aisle with Democrats like Mia Gregerson and Jessica Bateman. Of Barkis' lot splitting bill, Peterson said, "That's really part of this strategy between the ADU bill, the 'missing middle' bill and now the lot splitting bill — I think that's really going to supercharge homeowners' ability to develop their properties as they wish."
2. State Rep. Julia Reed (D-Seattle) has a bill that would encourage dense, walkable neighborhoods around rapid transit stops such as light rail stations. This Transit- or Community-Oriented Development bill was left on the table last year, Peterson says. "I'm hoping we might have a good, workable solution that the cities can get behind, affordable housing advocates can get behind, and of course the realtors and the developers will like as well. We were able to do that last year with a number of bills, really build this broad-based coalition. And I'm hoping we can do it again."
3. State Rep. Mia Gregerson (D-SeaTac) hopes to legalize tiny apartments with low rents. Her "Co-living" bill could bring back "single room occupancy" apartments, where people save on rent by sharing a kitchen and sometimes bathrooms.
4. "Then, we're going to tackle rent stabilization again," said Peterson. "[We're] really trying to help the 50% or so of Washingtonians that aren't home owners, in the rental market."

As head of the Housing Committee, Peterson said he’s excited about all these bills.

He's less excited about parking reform, a goal of many housing advocates. He said eliminating parking requirements for new apartments is too controversial for this year’s short legislative session. Instead, he added, some limited parking reforms could make it into Reed's Transit Oriented Development bill.