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A new report by Challenge Seattle, a coalition of business and technology leaders, says more companies need to help finance and build affordable housing as part of a comprehensive solution to the state’s housing crisis.
For example, private companies developing housing themselves, donating or discounting surplus land to non-profit developers or community land trusts, or subsidizing below-market or incentivizing new housing.
“Large private companies based in areas with high housing costs have a strong reason to be part of the solution, as they are interested in the availability and cost of housing for their employees,” the report says.
It’s one of the excerpts from a 125-page report released Thursday morning by the Boston consulting group Challenge Seattle, titled “The Notorious Crisis: Addressing Housing Affordability in Washington.”
Microsoft, Amazon and others laid the groundwork for hundreds of millions of dollars to support affordable housing in the Seattle region following a widely cited 2019 BCG report. Apple, Google and others have launched their own initiatives and initiatives in California.
The new report recognizes those efforts, in addition to new state laws and local policies that address housing affordability and homelessness.
However, he said, the problem is far greater than efforts to solve it, and is complicating the history of racial discrimination in home ownership by creating a disproportionate impact on people of color.
“Given that all of these initiatives have been implemented recently, it is too early to say with certainty their impact on housing affordability,” Challenge Seattle wrote in the report’s introduction. But depending on the scale of the crisis, we know that these measures alone will not be enough to solve the challenges we face.
The new report expands on the 2019 study’s statewide approach — for example, finding that nearly 1 million Washington state households spend more than 30% of household income on housing-related expenses.
Enhancing the role of private companies is one of the report’s 19 recommendations to increase housing supply and make housing more affordable and accessible to middle- and low-income families.
But the biggest focus is on increasing housing through zoning reform. The report found, for example, that more than 90% of Mercer Island and more than 70% of Seattle and Bellevue are zoned for single-family housing.
“Zoning reform is a critical catalyst for removing the regulatory barriers that stand in the way of the private market,” wrote Challenge Seattle. “In the context of Washington, we need to change zoning laws to allow for more density and rezone more land for multifamily housing.”
Challenge Seattle is led by CEO Chris Gregoire, former governor of Washington state. Members include Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, Expedia Group CEO Peter Kern, Puget Sound Energy CEO Mary Kipp, T-Mobile CEO Mike Sievert, Zillow Group CEO Rich Barton and other company leaders in the region.
Read the full report here.
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