Executive Vice President’s message

In late January, I spoke to a group of 320 people who gathered at the Lynwood Convention Center from across the Puget Sound region at the 2023 Real Estate Success Summit presented by The Lones Group.

Building Industry Association of Whatcom

County member Denise Lones kicked off the summit with a comprehensive State of the Market presentation, zeroing in on Washington’s urgent need for more homes to meet the demand of the state’s burgeoning population.

Change is imperative

Last month I wrote about BIAW’s legislative priorities and warned of dangerous bills that pose further threats to the state’s housing needs. As the 2023 session heads into the home stretch, we need your help even more.

On the positive side, a bipartisan coalition of representatives and senators has announced a commitment to permit reform and other pro-housing legislation desperately needed to build more homes Washington families can afford.

Greg Lane Executive Vice President

It’s moments like these when the expertise of our entire membership —builders and associate members—really shines. Each of our members has a piece of this story to tell.

A laser focus on building homes

There are various reports out there of exactly how many new housing units the state currently lacks. But whether it’s 180,000 or 270,000, one thing is clear: Washington is woefully behind.

Challenge Seattle, led by former Washington Gov. Christine Gregoire, estimates we’ll need up to 2.5 million new homes by 2050 to restore our state’s housing market to “healthy.” And we’re not going to get there utilizing the same old approach to housing policy we’ve used over the last three decades under the state’s Growth Management Act (GMA).

Challenge Seattle says we need to build 2.5 million new housing units over the next 27 years. How many do you think were built in the last 27 years under the GMA? Just 1.1 million. Washington must do better.

Unfortunately, the governor and antihousing legislators continue to push measures that would make it more difficult and more expensive to build homes.

You can help

Not everyone can pull off a powerful housing summit the way Denise and her team did. But if you have a smartphone and a few minutes, you can make a difference in Olympia: n Sign up for our text alerts: Text BIAW to 50457 n Visit our Legislative Action Center each week at biaw.com/legislativeaction-center/to learn which bills to sign in on to support or oppose n Plan to join our BIAW Legislative Action Day on March 21 during our winter board meeting in Olympia

April 2023 Classes

DOSH Inspections: Don’t be caught unprepared

* Free for ROII participants