New laws aim to boost housing across Washington state
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Illustration: Annelise Capossela/Axios
A suite of new laws aim to make it easier to build more housing throughout Washington state, including in Seattle.
Why it matters: The state Department of Commerce estimates that Washington must add more than 1 million homes by 2044 to keep up with population growth, with over 300,000 of those housing units needed in King County.
What's happening: Several laws signed by Gov. Bob Ferguson in recent weeks focus on removing barriers to housing construction.
- One measure makes it more difficult to designate a building as a historic landmark, a process that pro-housing groups say has sometimes been weaponized to delay or halt housing construction in Seattle.
- Other newly signed laws aim to increase density near transit stations, reduce permit timelines and cut parking requirements, among other changes.
Zoom in: Right now, Seattle allows any person or group to nominate buildings as young as 25 years old as historic landmarks.
- Under the new landmarking reform law, House Bill 1576, most buildings under 125 years old will no longer be able to be designated as historic landmarks without the owners' consent if the designation would restrict development of the property.
- That will help prevent the landmarking process from being "co-opted to obstruct homebuilding," as it has in the past in Seattle, Dan Bertolet of the Sightline Institute told a panel of lawmakers in March.
Yes, but: Eugenia Woo of Historic Seattle told lawmakers that the new landmarking policy will give developers too much control, "leaving communities little to no voice in terms of what happens to their historic places in their neighborhoods."
The big picture: Another new statewide policy, House Bill 1491, will require cities and counties to allow denser housing near transit stations.
- To comply with the law, Seattle will likely need to change some of its zoning to allow denser housing near bus rapid transit stops and certain light rail stations, Callie Craighead, a spokesperson for Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell, told Axios.
Also now on the books is a new law to limit how many parking spots cities and counties can require as part of new housing developments, which Ferguson said will reduce the cost of building new units.
- "Each space can add up to $20,000 to the cost of developing a home," and much more if a parking garage is required, the governor said when signing Senate Bill 5184.
What's next: Seattle officials say they will have to adopt legislation to implement some of the statewide laws.
- Cities will have to update their landmark processes by July 2026, while the deadline for Seattle to implement the transit-oriented development requirements is 2029.
Go deeper: Washington becomes 3rd state to enact rent cap law