Home building takes center stage with Spokane’s top legislative representatives

Four of our region’s top Washington State lawmakers had a chance to outline key work they accomplished in this recent legislative session to address the housing crisis in our area. Senate Majority Leader Andy Billig, Senator Mike Padden, Representative Marcus Riccelli, and Representative Jacquelin Maycumber all pointed to key legislation this past session they each played a role in championing.

For Senator Mike Padden, his top legislation dealt with condominium reform. While he believes more work needs to be done to help those building smaller projects, the legislation (SB 5334) has been hailed by Washington REALTORS as a key victory in the work to build more condominiums in Washington. Read more here

While Senator Andy Billig pointed to a measure to Increase urban residential building capacity (HB 1923) as an important step towards opening more development opportunities in our state.

All four agreed, that with a legislative study on the Growth Management Act expected out this summer, there will be efforts in the next legislative session to work on the Urban Growth boundaries with hopes of making the 28 year old legislation more workable in today’s environment.

The gathering was a joint governmental affairs meeting between the Spokane Association of REALTORS®, the Spokane Home Builders Association and the Spokane Mortgage Lenders Association.