Housing is a basic human need, and everyone should have access to a safe, healthy, affordable place to live. According to data from the latest GAP Report from the National Low Income Housing Coalition, Washington has a shortage of nearly 172,000 rental homes that are affordable to people with the lowest incomes.

To ensure that the creation of new affordable housing can grow to meet this need, the Washington Department of Commerce has projected that communities across our state should build almost 650,000 new homes affordable to low-income households over the next 20 years. Without this investment, more households will face housing insecurity and be at risk of becoming homeless.

To address this challenge, the legislature should include at least $536 million for the Housing Trust Fund in the capital budget to build and preserve affordable homes.

These funds should be flexible and support: new affordable homes, both rental and homeownership; preservation of existing at-risk housing, including manufactured housing; and land acquisition.

Additional capital budget investments should be made to grow the nonprofit affordable housing repair fund created in the 2024 capital budget.

Key points:

• The Housing Trust Fund is the best tool available to ensure our state will create housing to address the needs of low-income households.   
• State lawmakers have made significant investments in the Housing Trust Fund in the last few budget cycles. A $536 million investment this year would allow the state to continue making progress on one of our biggest challenges.    
• Every Housing Trust Fund dollar leverages private, local, and federal funds to build homes for families, seniors, veterans, farm workers, people exiting from homelessness, people living with disabilities, and more.   
• Housing is the solution to homelessness. Investments in affordable homes not only help those who are currently experiencing homelessness to move into safe shelter, but these investments can also help stem the pressures of rising housing costs that continue to contribute to making new households become homeless.

Funding housing at the scale of need and urgently speeding up affordable housing production is the first key policy element in our "Roadmap to Housing Justice". Learn more at wliha.org/roadmap