Affordable Housing and Homelessness

Washington is facing an affordable housing crisis.

Bob Ferguson traveled to every Washington county, and he heard from Washingtonians in communities across the state who are struggling to find affordable housing. He knows that rising housing prices are making it hard for too many families. He wants to see bold solutions to address the homelessness crisis and high cost of housing.

One of the consequences of rapidly rising housing costs is the increase in homelessness. Spending on housing and services has increased, but these investments have not reduced the number of unhoused Washingtonians or individuals trapped in a cycle of chronic homelessness.

We are at a critical junction. The decisions we make today will have far-reaching consequences.

Bob will answer the crisis with urgent action. As Attorney General, Bob has a proven track record of fighting for housing affordability. He will tackle our affordable housing challenges with the same fire and urgency he took to protecting Washingtonians from civil rights and consumer protection violations and holding the federal government accountable to the rule of law.

Bob will put Washington on a path to build over one million units of housing over the next 20 years. He will advance and implement policies modeled after successful practices in other jurisdictions. He will address the housing needs of today and tomorrow, and improve affordability so that all Washingtonians can live where they work. As Governor, he will:

Increase the housing supply with a multi-faceted plan that includes policy changes and partnerships with philanthropy, business, developers, local governments, and the state Legislature to build housing of all kinds across the entire spectrum at an unprecedented scale.
Strengthen protections in order to improve affordability and stability for families on the brink.
Address chronic homelessness by improving services, expanding treatment options, deploying successful reentry programs, working with individuals with lived experience, and coordinating systems.
Elevate the issue of housing in state government and adopt a more centralized, data-driven approach to integrate systems, cut through bureaucratic red tape, and improve accountability.

Bob’s record of protecting Washingtonians’ access to affordable housing

Bob has consistently supported efforts to prevent veteran homelessness and to help those living with mental illness.

As a County Councilmember, Bob led a bipartisan proposal to purchase and renovate closed motels to provide shelter and wraparound services for the chronically unhoused.
He also used his approach of hands-on leadership to directly understand some of the challenges facing our unhoused populations by staying overnight at a homeless encampment where he spoke directly with those struggling on the street.
As Attorney General, Bob expanded on his work in King County and focused on keeping Washingtonians housed.
Bob stopped illegal housing discrimination targeting disabled veterans and low-income Washingtonians.
Army Veteran Scott Shulz told King 5 he “would be homeless” if Bob Ferguson had not stepped and seized control of VIEW, a charity aimed at helping veterans, after discovering the executive director was committing fraud. Bob recovered $1 million in stolen funds and ensured that veterans harmed were repaid.
Bob took on companies that prey on homeowners in foreclosure and secured a court order to stop a company’s deceptive foreclosure practices, protecting vulnerable homeowners from being exploited.
Bob used money he won in lawsuits against predatory financial lenders to provide housing counseling to over 1,000 Washingtonians to keep them out of foreclosure and from losing their homes.
Bob helped hundreds of families and individuals stay in their homes through enforcement of the Governor’s emergency evictions moratorium.
Bob filed three successful lawsuits against corporate landlords that were illegally and inhumanely evicting tenants.
Bob’s work holding corporations that fueled the opioid epidemic accountable resulted in $1.1 billion for all Washington communities. These resources must be used to address the opioid epidemic and can be used to provide housing and wrap-around services for individuals suffering from opioid use disorder.
Bob helped hundreds of residents of manufactured homes receive fair treatment from their landlords. He prevented illegal evictions and unfair rental practices. He took on a manufactured housing provider that illegally refused to make basic safety upgrades.
Bob also took on a city government that was evicting low income residents without sufficient due process, avoiding sending numerous Washingtonians directly on to the streets.
Bob’s legal team provided assistance to both tenants and landlords to resolve issues and direct landlords to available rental assistance and other resources.
Bob earned the sole endorsement of the Washington Housing Alliance Action Fund.

1. HOUSING SUPPLY: A Home for Everyone.

Washington is facing a severe housing shortage. We must build more than one million units over the next 20 years to address the shortage. The housing shortage impacts our economy and harms businesses because Washingtonians can no longer find housing in the community where they work.

An incremental approach is inadequate to the urgency of this crisis. This statewide issue needs a strong statewide response.

An All of The Above Approach

As Governor, Bob will ensure that we are incentivizing building all forms of housing, including subsidized affordable housing for people with low and very low incomes, workforce housing, “missing middle” housing for middle class and working families, and market rate housing. This development must be intentional and planned for sustainable growth that incorporates our state’s climate goals and balanced land use policies.
This includes capital investments in affordable housing and harnessing creative opportunities, such as building on existing and underutilized retail and commercial sites, maximizing opportunities for transit-oriented development, while ensuring that workers are able to earn a prevailing wage and receive adequate health benefits.
Bob will work across the aisle and with philanthropy, business, developers, local governments, the Washington State Housing Finance Commission and the state Legislature to leverage available funding to build tens of thousands of new units of temporary and permanent housing within urban growth boundaries. This includes new investments in transitional housing, tiny home villages, subsidized apartments, and home ownership opportunities.

Make It Easier to Build Needed Housing

As Governor, Bob will take the following steps to make it easier to build new housing:

Implement recent laws that cut unnecessary red tape that is currently keeping families within urban growth boundaries from building detached Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs) on their property to increase their property values, generate revenue, and help combat the housing shortage.
Streamline zoning in retail sectors to create new housing opportunities to ensure that our workforce is prioritized and expanded. This includes working with developers to allow affordable housing to be built on areas zoned for office and retail, contingent on an agreement to meet strong labor standards.
Help families generate income while addressing the housing supply shortfall by providing navigation assistance through the building process to add affordable ADUs on their property.
Support utility extensions needed to build affordable units on underutilized land within existing urban areas and ensure full implementation of recently enacted land use reforms so there are enough new affordable homes built in our state.
Improve density and support property owners by supporting a bipartisan plan to allow homeowners a one-time opportunity to split their lot if it meets certain criteria.
Incentivize Transit Oriented Development (TOD) by examining zoning laws around transit stations and require increased density in areas immediately surrounding light rail stations or bus rapid transit routes. We could also adopt policies to build below market rate housing in these zones.
Explore modernizing outdated parking requirements for permanent supportive housing and affordable housing within one-half mile of a light rail station or one-quarter mile of bus rapid transit stop. Speed up permitting and design review for affordable and supportive housing and require expeditious approval of innovative modular housing units that can be used at multiple sites for rent restricted housing.
Use incentives to encourage local governments to explore the use of their excess bonding capacity to fund additional housing solutions in their communities – helping contribute to a statewide solution.

Expanding Home Ownership and Improving Affordability

Bob will lead the way to increasing opportunities for affordable home ownership.

Lower barriers to affordable homeownership for our essential workforce by supporting and expanding the Homes for Heroes program to assist all first-time home buyers who serve their communities as first responders, law enforcement, 911 dispatchers, service members, nurses, teachers, child care workers, behavioral health professionals, and social workers, and make less than the median income. These individuals will receive no-interest loans to assist with the down payments and closing costs.
Create generational wealth opportunities and address the harms of past redlining by accelerating implementation of the state’s new Covenant Homeownership Program to support qualifying homeowners directly through assistance with closing costs, down payments, and pre- and post-purchase counseling. Funds will also be used to support construction capital, predevelopment costs, and capacity growth for nonprofit organizations working with eligible populations.
Explore policies that incentivize building affordable condos to help working Washingtonians looking to transition out of renting to starting building equity.

2. HOUSING AFFORDABILITY: Preventing Displacement and Loss of Housing.

Housing costs are hurting families and forcing too many into their cars and onto the street. In order to stop this, Washington must address and ensure that housing is accessible and affordable for those who need it.

Bob will adopt the following policies to prevent displacement and the loss of housing:

Expand property tax relief for low income families, seniors, disabled individuals, and qualifying veterans.
Work with all stakeholders to pass common-sense protections that safeguard renters from predatory rent increases, acknowledge the critical role of small landlords in providing affordable housing options, and ensure that we do not discourage new development so we can build a housing economy that works for all.
Exert strong fiscal management by utilizing any and all underspend on existing projects to provide bridge funds for renters who come up short and whose vouchers will not cover available housing.
Ensure the next Attorney General has the resources necessary to continue protecting individuals living in manufactured housing communities from unlawful practices.
Work with our Intellectual/Developmental Disability community to understand the way that our housing development needs to be responsive and accessible to those who have disabilities.
Support landlords by expanding the Landlord Liaison Services and offer landlords compensation for working with housing authorities. This is equitable, and will make renters using affordable housing vouchers more competitive.
Partner with local jurisdictions to provide protections and emergency support funding for Washingtonians at risk of losing their homes – including emergency rent and foreclosure protections – knowing it is far less expensive to help individuals to stay housed than to assist them when they become homeless.

3. SUPPORT FOR THE VULNERABLE: Address Chronic Homelessness by Improving Services, Expanding Treatment Options, Deploying Successful Reentry Programs, Working with Individuals with Lived Experience, and Better Coordinating Systems.

We cannot solve chronic homelessness until we improve services. We need to build enough new permanent and transitional housing that is affordable for all members of our community to find a safe place to live. But that’s not enough – we need to ensure that Washingtonians who need mental health and/or substance use services can get those services, which will be the key to helping them stay housed.

Without housing and low-barrier access to wraparound services, we simply continue to move around the unhoused and compound the barriers they face in leading healthy, stable lives. Bob believes in a solution that addresses the whole person and the whole family to help break cycles that keep Washingtonians from accessing the housing they need and deserve. He knows that best way to help individuals caught in the cycle of chronic homelessness is to connect them with individuals with lived experience.

Bob has the track record to support this work and is ready to take a comprehensive approach to meet the urgency, at scale. Bob developed a Mental Illness and Drug Dependency (MIDD) Action Plan that serves more than 20,000 individuals in need of help every year. He led the creation of a King County Crisis Solutions Center as a resource for police, medics, crisis mental health professionals, and other first responders when they meet individuals in crisis who might otherwise receive no help, or be taken to jail or an emergency room. Bob’s effort to hold accountable corporations that directly fueled the opioid epidemic directly resulted in resources for improved treatment options, as well as transitional services and supportive housing for those experiencing opioid use disorder.

He also led the creation of King County’s Veterans and Human Services Levy that provides re-entry training and behavioral health support for veterans. Bob will make the necessary investments to deliver wraparound services statewide to address the acute needs of veterans. He will bring this experience to the Governor’s Office.

Invest in Behavioral Health And Treatment Services

Bob will:

Build a first-class behavioral health system that includes more providers and behavioral health professionals, fewer long waiting periods, and expanded access to medically-assisted treatment for opioid use disorder.
Continue to integrate mental health and substance use treatment into primary care settings to ensure early detection and intervention.
Focus services on at-risk individuals exiting detention to provide immediate access to temporary housing, drug treatment where appropriate, and case management.
Work with individuals with lived experience to improve uptake of services.
Continue to build out our state’s 988 hotline to ensure that there is a proper social service response when a person is experiencing an acute mental/behavioral crisis so that they and their families can get the help and support they need without fearing further harm.
Fight for Washington’s fair share of federal dollars. When Washington adopts innovative reforms to better meet Washingtonians’ needs, he will pursue Medicaid waivers.
Build off the success of jurisdictions such as San Diego County and Bakersfield, Bob will support and coordinate local programs that build relationships and trust by maintaining a list of individuals in the community who are experiencing chronic homelessness. Using this “by-name” list allows for the creation of individualized care based on the needs of each person and allows for real-time data to support services.
Collaborate with local governments to ensure that there is statewide coordination for outreach and rehousing services, and improved oversight of public dollars.

Build Emergency Shelter and Permanent Supportive Housing

Work with the Office of Apple Health & Homes to ensure permanent supportive housing providers are using every available federal Medicaid dollar for housing and related supports. Increase state funding for Foundational Community Supports to increase services for people suffering from mental illness and opioid addiction to address chronic street homelessness.
Invest in Permanent Supportive Housing by allocating capital funds in Apple Health & Homes to build additional units of Permanent Supportive Housing to get people off the street and out of parks to alleviate suffering, save lives, and protect public safety.
Invest in the creation of Tiny House Villages and safe vehicle parking lots as an interim response to homelessness. Providing managed villages with supportive services offers tremendous benefits over tents – they are safe, weatherproof, and lockable. Tiny House Shelters allow participants to get on a path to permanent housing and employment.

4. A NEW HOUSING DEPARTMENT: A more centralized, data-driven approach to integrate systems, cut through bureaucratic red tape, and improve accountability.

One of Bob’s first actions as Governor will be to begin the process of creating a new Housing Department. The affordable housing crisis demands a cabinet level agency laser-focused on meeting the diverse housing needs of all Washingtonians.

This new agency will elevate, centralize, and better coordinate the housing work currently being done in the Department of Commerce and other state agencies. The new agency head will report directly to the Governor.

Through a centralized agency, Bob will improve coordination and break down the currently siloed housing and homeless services ecosystem in order to develop an integrated system that focuses on meeting every community’s needs.
Bob will improve transparency and accountability by centralizing and making real-time data available.
A centralized housing agency will improve efficiency and oversight of public dollars – including the Housing Trust Fund, federal pass through dollars, and other public investments.

5. YOUTH HOMELESSNESS: Maintain our momentum toward ending youth homelessness.

Bob knows we have more to do to support a crisis response system that meets the basic needs of youth around the state. This includes:

Continuing funding and expansion of the Anchor Community Initiative.
Filling critical service gaps for young people under age 18.
Making sure that nonprofit sector and staff are well trained and paid a living wage.
Ensuring the support of creative housing solutions particularly effective in rural areas, such as host homes and supported leasing, and that they have adequate oversight and support.
Developing housing specifically for pregnant and parenting young people and their families.
Creating more housing options for youth with acute mental and behavioral health needs.

Prevention will be a key strategy in Bob’s administration. Our state has made significant gains in using prevention as a tool to end youth homelessness. Moving forward, a robust approach will include resourcing systems of care and families (such as Family Reconciliation Services) to identify and intervene to prevent the trauma of homelessness in the first place. This also includes scaling and supporting successful interventions such as:

Housing Prevention and Diversion Fund
Prevention Youth Engagement Teams
Youth Diversion Infrastructure Project
Housing Stability for Youth in Courts

Bob will also focus on key reforms targeted to addressing the disproportionate amount of homeless youth from marginalized communities. It is critical to recruit and support organizations in BIPOC and LGBTQIA+ communities to staff and lead culturally competent programming and ensure that state partners uphold policies and practices that affirm the needs and rights of young people.

He will also work to improve data systems to prioritize real time data, so our response is more effective. The Anchor Community Initiative has demonstrated the effectiveness of by-name lists in addressing youth homelessness at the local level. The Department of Commerce should look at all data collection and reporting requirements to understand what can be substituted for real-time, by-name lists.