BIAW housing heroes

by Josie Cummings Legislative Director

Legislators from across the spectrum have highlighted housing as one of the top issues to tackle this legislative session. Already, they’ve introduced a host of housing bills tackling affordability, homeownership and supply.

Out of the 147 lawmakers here in Olympia, these lawmakers are the ones to watch as they will be sponsoring key legislation builders support to help reduce the cost of building homes for Washington families.

Senator Chris Gildon

A 23-year veteran U.S. Army officer with five overseas deployments and two bronze star medals, Gildon has earned a reputation as being a calm voice of reason in Olympia. A group of builders, cities, counties, the Department of Commerce and more worked together to develop a package of legislation to help with permit timelines and data collection. Gildon, a member of the Senate Housing Committee, is championing permit timeline reform legislation, which could help reduce the cost of new homes by thousands of dollars.

“My Senate Republican colleagues and I have been proposing sensible housing solutions for the past few years,” Gildon said. “This year, there finally seems to be a willingness from both parties to act on our state’s housing crisis. I remain an advocate for sensible solutions that increase our housing supply and reduce the cost of living for the people of Washington state.”

Representative Jessica Bateman

In a January press release, Bateman said, “Everyone deserves a home, yet the dream of home ownership is out of reach for too many families. The housing crisis is hurting all our families in every corner of the state.

The status quo is preventing us from addressing our housing shortage— which is why we’re proposing legislation to allow for middle housing statewide.”

A lifelong Washingtonian, Bateman is partnering with Rep. Andrew Barkis to sponsor HB 1110, middle housing legislation to upzone lots to four or six units to increase density. Bateman also prime-sponsored key impact fee deferral legislation, HB 1252, supported by BIAW. The legislation streamlines the process by getting rid of the existing lien process, eliminating the number of units that can have impact fees deferred and having the fees collected at the point of sale or at certificate of occupancy. We’re grateful for her leadership.

Representative Andrew Barkis

Year after year, Barkis tirelessly advocates for BIAW and housing issues. “Housing has been a passion and priority of mine since day one,” his website reads, “Our state continues to experience a housing crisis, including our response to the problem. Supply is down, rent is skyrocketing, homeownership is unattainable for many first-time homebuyers, and homelessness continues to grow. I consistently introduce good policies and work with my colleagues across the aisle to identify the root causes of our affordable housing problem. We need to offer real solutions that address the supply issue, cost increases and regulatory burdens to be successful.”

In addition to the missing middle legislation Barkis is co-sponsoring, he is taking the lead on permitting reform in the House with a bill that tackles permit timeline accountability and a balanced approach with new solutions to try to fix the permitting issues we have in our state so we can build more homes people can afford.