Dear John:

If a person doesn't have a pillow to lay their head on at night, a blanket to keep themselves warm, and a roof over their head to keep the rain off, then every other issue in their life will be more challenging.

Because whether you face unemployment, a mental health crisis, drug addiction, or struggle in school — and, yes, many unhoused Washingtonians are school children — unhoused individuals and families struggle even more.

We have a housing crisis in our state. It's not pretend or exaggerated, and it's not overheated political rhetoric. Washington is tens of thousands of homes short and we cannot meet the people's needs.

The results range from just plain bad to unconscionable. Too many homeless people and families. Soaring rents — too few housing units inevitably drive rents up — causing living standards to plummet. Young people who are unable to afford to buy a starter home. Employers that cannot expand because prospective workers cannot find a place to live. Creeping urban sprawl as people are forced to live farther and farther from work.

And it could get worse. Our state needs more than a million new housing units to meet forecasted demand over the next 20 years. More than half of those new homes need to fall into the "affordable" category.

The answer is we need to build more homes of all kinds for all our neighbors, and we need to take on an "all of the above" strategy: more state investment in affordable housing, more permitting reform, increased emphasis on denser housing, more incentives for housing near transit, and conversion of commercial space to housing. We need it all.

But what we need most of all are elected officials who will stand up and speak out on the need for more housing.

I have and I will continue to.

Denny

P.S. Wonk out warning! Here's another benefit of building more housing units and lowering the cost of housing. It will bring down inflation since shelter cost is what is keeping the inflation rate above the level that would enable the Fed to lower interest rates. And lower interest rates mean lower mortgage costs and credit card costs and more business investment.

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