Affordable housing and homelessness: Strategic priorities
Building homes people can afford: Our investment in housing initiatives
Washington’s population is rapidly growing, with an expected increase of more than 166,000 adults during the 2023–25 biennium. With housing stock expected to grow by 51,212 units over the same biennium, it’s easy to see that bold investments are required to reverse the existing housing shortage and meet demands. Rising rental costs driven by the lack of affordable housing has increased eviction rates, generating record high numbers of people facing homelessness and housing instability in our communities. Marginalized groups face more barriers than their white peers in accessing housing services after decades of biased housing, employment, and government policies. Washington is dedicated to improving access and availability of affordable housing, while addressing the underlying causes and ongoing effects of our statewide housing shortage.
Need:
Proposal:
Expanding affordable housing with vital interventions
Housing costs are increasingly burdening working families, making it difficult for adults to absorb essential costs such as child care and groceries. Almost half of Washington renters spend more than 30% of their income on housing costs, with a quarter of Washington renters paying more than 50% of their income on housing costs. Washington’s rapidly growing population is outpacing available housing, generating a housing shortage and need for 1.1 million more homes in the next 20 years. Almost 650,000 of these houses will need to be affordable for low-income households.
In 2023, there were more than 16,500 evictions filed in Washington, largely due to unpaid rent. Rising rents have left more than 198,000 people unstably housed or at risk of becoming homeless.
The proposed 2025–27 budgets continue and add investments for building more affordable housing units, while incentivizing local governments to help by making it easier to get building permits and lowering fees for new utility connections.
Continued capital budget investment in the Housing Trust Fund will support developing and preserving affordable housing for marginalized populations who have a harder time finding homes. This includes Tribal communities, individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities, and Medicaid-eligible individuals who qualify for housing support through the Apple Health and Home Permanent Supportive Housing program.
The operating budget continues the work of Consolidated Homeless and Youth Homeless Grants programs, which successfully prevent adults and youths from becoming unhoused. In 2023 alone, the Consolidated Homeless and Youth Homeless Grants programs helped more than 19,500 households. Through the Department of Commerce’s Office of Homeless Youth, an impressive 92% of youth who accessed prevention services in the last year remain housed today.
A number of housing programs depend heavily on revenue from document recording fees, which have declined rapidly in recent years due to reduced property transactions. The proposed operating budget addresses a shortfall created by falling fee collections, maintains crucial intervention programs at existing service levels, and provides stability to those at risk of homelessness.
Affordable housing and homelessness budget highlight items
Maintain Consolidated Homeless Grant, homeless youth grants and the Office of Homeless Youth
The Consolidated Homeless Grant program is largely funded through document recording fee revenues. The program assisted 19,500 households in 2023 by supporting counties and nonprofits’ homeless crisis response systems. Homeless crisis response systems respond to the immediacy and urgency of homelessness by ensuring that everyone has a safe place to live.
The Office of Homeless Youth provides housing services for youth and young people who are unhoused or at risk of becoming unhoused. The proposed funding continues important and successful interventions, such as temporary residences, basic needs assistance, family reconciliation services, transitional living programs, and rental assistance homelessness diversion programs. These programs provide homeless youth a safe place to live and protect youth from becoming unhoused in the first place.
The proposed funding continues both programs without reducing services to these vulnerable populations.
($198 million General Fund-State)
Preserve permanent supportive housing operations, maintenance, and services
Affordable permanent supportive housing is more important than ever. This budget takes critical steps to address homelessness by funding the operations and regular maintenance of over 7,200 affordable permanent supportive housing units. These efforts support housing in the state’s Housing Trust Fund portfolio and extend to units outside the fund by covering service costs and providing financial assistance to certain tenants.
The proposed funding replenishes lost document recording fee revenues and maintains services for both programs.
($52 million GF-S)
Protect foreclosure prevention services
The Foreclosure Fairness Program provides vital support to homeowners facing foreclosure, offering free housing counseling, civil legal aid, and lender mediation services.
This budget ensures the program will continue to keep residents in their homes by addressing the declining revenues that support this program and replacing one-time federal funding.
($4.2 million GF-S)
Streamline local project permit reviews
Legislation passed in 2023 updated the Local Project Review Act by consolidating, streamlining, and improving local permit review. This governor-requested legislation speeds up housing development. The governor’s proposed budget maintains grant funding to keep this strategic approach going.
($1.5 million GF-S)
Fund homeless health care services study
This budget funds a study to address a gap in health care services for unhoused individuals who require medical care — which shelters cannot legally provide — but do not require emergency room treatment. It will inform policy makers on how to address the gap.
($250,000 GF-S)
Continue housing new arrivals
The budget proposes $25 million for the Office of Refugee and Immigrant Assistance to continue serving newly arriving individuals in the state who do not qualify for federal refugee resettlement services. A total of $25 million is provided for this purpose, of which $13.3 million is provided for housing services.
($13 million GF-S)
Make historic investment in Housing Trust Fund
The Housing Trust Fund (HTF) program provides financial assistance for developing new affordable housing units and preserving existing units. This program assists local governments and nonprofits by providing housing funds to meet basic needs for thousands of low-income individuals and families. This historic investment preserves over 1,300 existing affordable units and creates approximately 5,100 new affordable housing units.
The Housing Trust Fund provides financial support to marginalized communities, including a new allocation for developing additional affordable housing units for Tribal communities, who have consistently faced increased barriers to accessing affordable housing.
The funds also continue the construction of new affordable housing for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities, creating new opportunities for low-income homeownership, and accommodating the Apple Health and Home Permanent Supportive Housing program.
Apple Health and Home Permanent Supportive Housing pairs highly vulnerable, Medicaid-eligible individuals with housing supports. The 2022 program operates in coordination with the Health Care Authority and Department of Social and Health Services. This investment continues funding for the rapid acquisition or construction of permanent housing, rental support, and other wrap-around services for program participants.
This investment also provides $20 million for the Rapid Capital Housing Acquisition program for the Department of Commerce to quickly purchase and convert properties into suitable enhanced emergency shelters, permanent housing, youth housing, or shelter for people experiencing sheltered or unsheltered homelessness.
($536 million State Building Construction Account)
Extend affordable housing through Connecting Housing to Infrastructure Program
The Connecting Housing to Infrastructure Program (CHIP) supports affordable housing development by funding utility connections and reducing related fees for affordable and multifamily units.
With the proposed new funding, CHIP will expand on its previous successes by assisting in the creation of over 5,850 new affordable housing units. Vulnerable populations struggling to access affordable housing will benefit from local governments incentivized to invest in affordable housing.
($65 million State Building Construction Account)
Creating the Supporting Housing Affordability Infrastructure Program
This budget funds the Supporting Housing Affordability Infrastructure Program, which will work in tandem with the Connecting Housing to Infrastructure Program to address root causes of housing instability in Washington.
The proposed funding creates a pilot program to help local governments cover costs like impact fees and other requirements for new affordable housing projects. These projects include transportation, parks, schools, or fire facilities that benefit low-income households. This investment helps create 700 new affordable housing units.
($10 million State Building Construction Account)
Affordable housing and homelessness summary of investments, 2025–27 biennial
This chart highlights select investments proposed by the governor in this budget area. The chart below provides the full list of investments. For more details about the items in the chart, refer to the Budget Recommendation Summaries (RecSums), organized by agency.
| Item | Agency | Amount |
|---|---|---|
| Historic Housing Trust Fund Investment | Commerce | $536,000,000 |
| Connecting Housing to Infrastructure Program Extends Affordable Housing Incentives | Commerce | $65,000,000 |
| Creating Supporting Housing Affordability Infrastructure Program | Commerce | $10,000,000 |
| Low-Income Home Rehabilitation Grant Program | Commerce | $6,000,000 |
| Affordable Housing Cleanup Grant Program | Ecology | $9,654,000 |
| Total | $626,654,000 |
| Item | Agency | Amount |
|---|---|---|
| Maintain Consolidated Homeless Grant, Homeless Youth Grants, and Office of Homeless Youth | Commerce | $198,525,000 |
| Maintain Landlord Mitigation Programs | Commerce | $6,816,000 |
| Preserving Permanent Supportive Housing Operations, Maintenance, and Services | Commerce | $52,293,000 |
| Protecting Foreclosure Prevention Services | Commerce | $4,239,000 |
| Streamlined Local Project Permit Reviews | Commerce | $1,500,000 |
| Homeless Health Care Services Study | Commerce | $250,000 |
| Hope and Home Housing | Commerce | $1,700,000 |
| Housing New Arrivals | DSHS | $13,346,000 |
| Total | $278,669,000 |
