Affordable Housing Bill from 12th District Senator Hawkins Making Progress in Olympia

A housing proposal from 12th District State Senator Brad Hawkins is making progress in Olympia.

A Senate committee has passed the proposal, which would expand the use of an existing tax to provide funding for affordable housing.

Access to affordable housing is a chronic problem across Washington, especially in tourist destinations such as Leavenworth and Lake Chelan in Chelan County.

Diane Blake with Cascade Medical Center in Leavenworth says the funding is essential because they are having trouble hiring critical staff members.

"We have offered positions to a nurse practitioner, a physician assistant and a health information management director, all of which pay good wages," said Blake. "All three declined, because after looking at housing, they didn’t think that they could afford to live in Leavenworth."

Kaylyn Bettinger with Upper Valley Mend in Leavenworth says there are shovel ready projects locally that would use the funding if the bill passes.

"We have three homes that we're working on, adding them in our pipeline, hopefully breaking ground this spring," said Bettinger. "So, if there were funds available, we could put that into that potential project.

Hawkins' proposal received unanimous support in the Senate Housing & Local Government Committee Thursday, and will now move to the Rules Committee before going to the full State Senate for consideration. It has nine cosponsors, who are both Republicans and Democrats.

Hawkins originally formed a partnership with Leavenworth Mayor Carl Florea to pen the legislation with the goal to give local government flexibility to spend lodging tax funds for workforce housing.

However, that plan received pushback from the hospitality industry. The state Hospitality Association is now backing the proposal, which has a new funding source.

The money is coming from an economic development tax that is levied at the local level to fund projects such as roads and bridges. The money collected is then credited against the state's 6.5 percent sales tax, and consumers do not see an increase in the amount of the tax paid. The tax has a sunset provision and will expire in 2032.

Image from State Senator Hawkins office