ADVOCACY
Affordable Housing & the Public Policy Connection By Doug Mah, Doug Mah & Associates and Thurston Chamber's Public Policy Director
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he greater Thurston region is in the midst of a housing crisis primarily due to a lack of affordable housing across the region. Elected leaders agree.
Lacey Mayor Andy Ryder is credited in the Olympian as writing, “In Lacey, the need for affordable housing is more significant than ever. Unfortunately, several factors are working against those efforts.” (the Olympian, February 15, 2021).
mitigation goals. What is significant about these separate actions is that it appears that the City Councils used the fiscal impact of the proposed building policies to inform their decisions. Knowing and understanding how public policy impacts housing affordability creates an opportunity to discuss and debate community priorities and trade-offs.
The Thurston Chamber agrees with Mayor Ryder. Significant factors working against affordable housing are well-intentioned but costly regulatory and construction requirements. Our elected State agencies must estimate the cost of any leaders are recognizing proposed law as part of the State that competing community government’s legislative and "Knowing and understanding ambitions are creating budgeting process. The analysis difficult public policy tradehow public policy impacts must identify what part of the offs. housing affordability creates proposed regulations will add or In Olympia, the City Council an opportunity to discuss and save money and clearly outline discovered that building the assumptions used to estimate some new Accessory Dwelling debate community priorities the fiscal impact. These fiscal and trade-offs." Units or ADUs (mother-inimpact statements, or “Fiscal law apartments) included Notes,” are profoundly important -DOUG MAH a requirement for a fire for lawmakers and help ensure suppression sprinkler system lawmakers understand the added that could add more than cost or savings of any proposed $8,000 in additional costs to a project. As a result of policy change. this finding, the City Council voted to exempt ADUs The Public Policy Division of the Thurston Chamber from the fire sprinkler requirement if the primary believes that local decision-makers need to have house is not required to have them. The Council, the equivalent of a “Fiscal Note” for every proposed in this instance, placed housing affordability and change to public policy that influences the cost and housing goals over fire protection goals. equity of housing across the region. In Lacey, the City Council found that new State Now is the time for every jurisdiction to start using energy codes could add $10,000 to $30,000 to the valid, reliable, transparent, and shared calculations cost of new homes. As a Statewide building code, to ask: “Does this policy proposal have a negative the law required Lacey City Council to adopt the or positive financial impact on how affordable our new costly regulations. However, the cost impact future housing will be?” prompted the City Council to vote to send the Governor a request to delay implementing the new Let’s enable our elected officials to have better energy code. In effect, the City Council is asking discussions and debates around community that the State place immediate housing affordability priorities and trade-offs by asking for a local housing and housing goals over long-range climate change Fiscal Note. thurstonchamber.com
Thurston County Chamber VOICE
I March 2021
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