Housing Development Bills Still Moving

Now that the session has passed a key deadline – the house-of-origin floor cutoff – there are only a few housing bills still alive that are relevant to counties:

• HB 1998 requires that local governments allow co-living housing units on any lot in an urban growth area zoned to allow at least six units of multifamily housing. The bill’s sponsors (Representatives Gregerson and Barkis) have worked with WSAC to amend the bill to address most of our initial concerns regarding parking regulations and permit fees. The bill was further amended as it was considered on the floor of the House to require compliance by all counties by 12/31/2025 rather than at the county’s next required periodic comprehensive land use update. With the amendments, WSAC is neutral on the bill.
• HB 2071 requires, among other things, that local permitting authorities allow the exterior walls of existing structures retrofitted for residential use and new residential structures built using passive housing standards to project into otherwise required setbacks by up to eight inches. The bill’s primary sponsor (Representative Duerr) worked with us to address several concerns in the first version of this bill regarding parking regulations, requirements for interior measurements, and fire/life-safety standards. WSAC supports the most recent version of the bill.
• SB 6015 implements some new mandates for how local governments are allowed to regulate off-street parking for residential development. The original bill was far more restrictive than the current version. It included requirements for allowing developers to count on-street parking toward local requirements for off-street parking provisions. The bill has been significantly amended, and the current version implements some new but reasonable constraints on local off-street parking regulations.

All three housing-related bills (HB 1989, HB 2071, SB 6015) are still moving through the legislative process. Each bill will likely require most counties to update their development regulations to comply. The update process is costly. Hopefully, the legislature will provide the resources needed.

The budget proposals from the House and Senate are expected to be released next week. We’ll be watching closely to see if these bills receive the needed funding support.