housing action
Blog

Washington’s housing wage rises to $36.33 per hour – fifth highest in the nation 

Full-time workers in Washington need to earn $36.33 per hour to afford a modest, two-bedroom apartment at fair market rent. This is Washington’s 2023 “Housing Wage” – an increase of $5 per hour over the housing wage in 2022 – according to a report published today by the National Low Income Housing Coalition (NLIHC) and the Washington Low Income Housing Alliance. 

My experience at the NLIHC 2023 Housing Policy Forum

Last month I had the opportunity to attend the 2023 Housing Policy Forum: Onward to Housing Justice, hosted by the National Low Income Housing Coalition and held in Washington, D.C. There were several hundred attendees, as well as the NLIHC Board of Directors and State and Tribal Partners from across the country. The Forum is an annual event, but due to COVID, they had not held it in person since 2019. 

The shortage of affordable housing has worsened for renters with extremely low incomes, especially in Washington

The Gap: A Shortage of Affordable Homes, a new report released today by the National Low Income Housing Coalition (NLIHC) and the Washington Low Income Housing Alliance, finds a national shortage of 7.3 million affordable and available rental homes for extremely low-income renter households – those with incomes at or below the poverty level or 30% of their area median income, whichever is greater.

State lawmakers must make bold investments this year to solve the affordable housing and homelessness crisis

Everyone should have a safe, stable place to call home. Stable and safe housing helps kids learn. It helps families stay together and younger adults stay in their home community. It helps ensure a healthy workforce and households that have money left to spend in their local economy. It helps communities stay resilient.
 

Governor Inslee’s budget takes bold steps - significant housing investments are also needed in this biennium

In his budget proposal released this week, Governor Inslee went big and proposed the kind of bold investments needed to make real progress on solving our state’s affordable housing and homelessness crisis. We commend the Governor for acting with urgency by putting forward an unprecedented investment in affordable homes. His proposal would fund 7,500 newly affordable homes in the next two years, and 26,700 over eight years.