Edmonds rep's bill to hold cities accountable for housing could return
A first-time bill designed to hold Washington cities accountable in building more affordable housing and emergency shelter made swift progress this session before dying in the Senate. But some lawmakers and proponents are hopeful it has the momentum it needs to make it to the finish line in next year’s session.
House Bill 2474 was introduced in late January by Rep. Strom Peterson, D-Edmonds, who is chair of the House Housing Committee. At the time, Peterson said he was inspired to write it after witnessing cities across Washington, including Kenmore, cancel affordable housing projects and rescind or decline permits for emergency shelter.
In January, the city of Kenmore voted down a 100-unit affordable housing project with Plymouth Housing after city and Plymouth staff spent more than 20 months working on the project. Since the reversal, several elected leaders have publicly criticized Kenmore’s actions, including Gov. Jay Inslee, who described it as “NIMBYism,” which means “not in my backyard,” in a news briefing this month.
“And that kind of approach by local communities will not allow us to really get on top of the homelessness problem,” Inslee said. “We need some more spine from local leaders.”
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