Washington is making progress on addressing its housing shortage but still has a long way to go.
That was the one of the main themes of a housing summit Tuesday sponsored by Greater Spokane.
Lt. Gov. Denny Heck said the Washington Legislature has made the issue one of its top priorities.
But he said elected leaders still lack the political will to make changes that make it easier for developers to build a variety of housing.
“The fact is the magnitude of the problem means we must have private capital investing to solve this problem," he said. "We must, and—believe it or not, getting back to my premise—there actually are a lot of people that do not believe that."
Greg Lane from the Building Industry Association of Washington argued the legislature needs to get rid of some regulations that drive up the cost of housing.
He said builders are instead migrating to other states, such as Idaho, where they can build cheaper housing more quickly.
"Idaho wants it. They want to build housing. They get it. They want affordable housing," he said. "Here in Washington, in most local jurisdictions, local building departments, they say, 'No,' or they say, 'You have to do this and this and this and this.'"
Ben Stuckart, who leads Spokane’s Low Income Housing Consortium, said developers would do well to consider adding both affordable and unsubsidized units to their properties.
"The way we view government subsidy in low-income housing is, 'Ok, if you take subsidy, then you’re going to build 40 units of low-income housing in an apartment unit,'" Stuckart said. "We would all be better if you had 15 units of low-income housing and 25 units of market-rate housing in that same 40-person complex. Mixed income buildings have better results."
Panelists say many Spokane-area residents are moving to Idaho to buy houses because they’re finding better deals in Kootenai County.
