Local Elected Official Housing Research Center Support Letter

Dear Legislative Leaders,

We represent a coalition of local elected officials from Washington concerned about the housing and housing affordability crisis in our communities. We ask you to create a housing research center in Washington state to provide analysis and data-driven research to support programmatic innovation for policymakers, practitioners and advocates.

Housing affordability and the cost of housing remain top concerns for communities throughout Washington. While some housing research is being done, there is not a comprehensive, central organization conducting research, analyzing state-wide trends and evaluating policy solutions for all of Washington’s diverse communities. This prevents us from truly understanding the different needs of our cities and is especially challenging for smaller jurisdictions without the resources, city or organizational support to conduct housing analyses and research. We know that the solutions designed for large cities may not be the same tools needed in other areas of the state.

We have looked to several other housing research centers around the country to learn how they address the needs in their communities and contribute to statewide solutions. Given the housing crisis we are facing in our state, we believe Washington should have a dedicated center for housing research. The housing research center would provide timely analysis and data-driven, state-specific research to formulate bold strategies and policies for our policymakers, practitioners and advocates. The center would allow us to:

  • Analyze the impacts of state policies on disparate communities to understand the differences and similarities in our cities and counties.
  • Provide unique policy solutions that could be scaled and implemented to meet diverse community needs in each of our communities.
  • Recognize racial disparities and displacement risk that may be caused by housing policy and find solutions to address the consequences of past harm.
  • Understand market dynamics and the economic impact of housing.
  • Examine tools to provide subsides and create more affordable homes.
  • Provide technical assistance for local communities to implement housing policy.
  • Enable policy makers from every level of government, including federal, state and local, to make data-driven decisions.

The housing research center will be hosted at the University of Washington, led by the Evans School of Public Policy and the College of Built Environments, creating an interdisciplinary effort that will draw on expertise from disciplines across the university. As a public-private partnership, the center will bring together the business, development, government and academic sectors who all have important roles and differing perspectives that will be valuable in a truly statewide effort to address the housing crisis.

We ask the legislature to fund the Washington state housing research center at $250,000 in fiscal year 2025 and $750,000 in fiscal year 2026 and each subsequent year. A significant public investment in the center is critical to ensure research is viewed as fair, objective and balanced.  

This new approach will provide a centralized foundation to build, fund and support housing and affordable housing development around Washington for our residents and provide new data and tools for us as local elected leaders to make meaningful changes in our communities. We recognize the state is facing a budget deficit. However, given that every community across Washington is struggling to meet housing needs, we should not wait any longer to create a research center that will help provide critical solutions and support. Please fund the Washington state housing research center this session and ensure that our communities throughout Washington can work to address the housing crisis.

Sincerely,

Please Sign-On

Limited to local elected officials only. Please contact Alyssa Quinn, Senior Government Relations Specialist, at aquinn@psrc.org with any questions.

Please note that if a quorum of your full legislative body or a committee of your legislative body is planning to sign-on to the letter, you may be required to take legislative action on the letter to comply with the Open Public Meetings Act (OPMA).

For example, Mayor, Councilmember, Executive, etc.
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