I have been spending the last several months ramping up my voice when it comes to creating more housing and especially affordable housing in my community and throughout Washington State!
Since housing starts began to decline after the Great Recession, and then plummeted, I have been warning everyone who would listen about the challenges our housing market would be facing if more homes could not be built. In fact, I predicted that the spring of 2021 would be the beginning of one of the most challenged housing markets anyone had ever seen. But little did I know that at the time of my prediction that COVID was around the corner about to make the situation worse.
I have put together 8 facts from my State of the Market that I held in January that sum up the issues we are facing that I hope you can put to use as talking points when talking about housing issues with the public:
HOUSING FACTS:
- The United States needs to build an average of 1.62 million housing units per year to keep up with population growth and to replace old structures.
- Since the Great Recession, our country has severely underbuilt and resulted in a national shortage of 4.16 million units as of the end of 2022.
- In Washington State, Governor Inslee shared in his State of the Union speech that we need to set out a goal of building one million units by 2040 to get back on track. That is only 17 years away.
- Builders are faced with a number of challenges including: rising permitting fees, rising stormwater fees, rising permitting timelines, more-stringent building and energy codes, labor shortages, product shortages, supply chain issues, a shortage of buildable land, and now, carrying fees due to interest rates.
- Some of the biggest barriers to building include government regulation, zoning, codes, and building permits. These must be eased up in a way that still has us focused on the future but allows us to correct course now and get people housed.
- One of the additional big challenges is NIMBY – not in my backyard. People inherently don’t like change, and the thought of introducing more density into existing neighborhoods is causing progress on housing to slow at the local level.
- Building is a business and builders are being forced to choose to build product that is less risky. Therefore, most builders are focused on the higher-end market and to that end, we have a shortage of starter and affordable product.
- We need to focus on building in the right place, at the right price, and build the right product.
Want to learn more? Here are some additional resources to review:
Additional Resources:
BIAW Reports and Studies: https://thelonesgroup.com/files/2022-10-BIAW-Reports-and-Studies.pdf
BIAW 2023 Legislative Agenda + Housing Facts: https://www.biaw.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/BIAW-2023-Legislative-Agenda-Housing-Factsheet.pdf
Snohomish County Housing Affordability Regional Taskforce Report: https://snohomishcountywa.gov/DocumentCenter/View/71290/HART-Report-and-5-Year-Action-Plan?bidId=
Lt Governor Denny Heck’s Interview with me: https://youtu.be/x4vFbw7nyGs
Washington State’s Housing Affordability Crisis: https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5d70140860791400013fe3ce/t/6154a80fddc28403888b9dea/1632938031441/Washington+State%27s+Housing+Affordability+Crisis.pdf
The Racial Wealth Gap Is the Housing Gap: https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5d70140860791400013fe3ce/t/6154a7aed71b142481211fc2/1632937937212/The+Racial+Wealth+Gap+is+the+Housing+Gap.pdf