Bob Ferguson asked millions in housing funds

By Alexis Weisend
The Seattle Times

(The Seattle Times) — Washington Gov. Bob Ferguson on Thursday unveiled plans to create a state Department of Housing while spending $244 million on housing, part of his proposed 2026 supplemental budget.

A chunk of the investment will support repairing flood-damaged homes, he said.

The legislature will consider Ferguson’s proposal when it convenes for a short session next month. If written into the supplemental one-year budget, the funding would complement a $605 million affordable-housing allocation in the state’s 2025–27 capital budget.
Where would the money go?

The largest portion of the funds — $81 million — would go toward developing approximately 2,000 new affordable rental units. Another $73 million would fund the construction of 664 units for first-time homebuyers.

Under the proposal, $55 million would go toward housing rehabilitation and preservation, as well as repairing flood-damaged homes.

“We have affordable housing that is in desperate need of repair (and) investment to keep them affordable,” Ferguson said. “And this is especially true, obviously, after the extreme weather and historic flooding.”

The state still plans to apply for disaster relief from the federal government, he said, which could provide more financial help for homeowners affected by the recent flooding.

The governor’s supplemental budget also proposes $20 million toward acquiring mobile and manufactured home communities, many of which have closed across Washington in recent years. In these communities, residents own their homes but rent the land beneath them.

The funding would prevent more than 400 households from being displaced, Ferguson said.

The legislature will consider Ferguson’s proposals as it crafts a supplemental budget during the upcoming 60-day legislative session, which starts Jan. 12.

Where would the money come from?

A majority of the $244 million investment would be funded through state bonds, said K.D. Chapman-See, director of the Office of Financial Management.

Even as the state faces a multibillion-dollar operating budget deficit in the coming years, the governor’s office proposes tapping a relatively small amount of the operating budget but relying heavily on the capital budget.

Representatives from housing nonprofits thanked the governor for the proposal.

Nonprofits are preparing for major funding cuts following the Trump administration’s announcement last month of new restrictions on federal funding for homelessness services. Those changes would shift money away from “housing first” programs based on the idea that stable housing makes it easier to address other issues such as mental illness and drug addiction.

New requirements put $41 million in homelessness funding for King County and Seattle at risk, jeopardizing housing for hundreds of households across the region.

“We’re at a critical moment where federal funding is a threat to all of us, and it remains real, and these are investments that are going to go a long way in maintaining that progress,” said Patience Malaba, executive director of the Housing Development Consortium.
A new Department of Housing

The governor also has in mind some methods for creating more housing.

He announced Thursday that he signed an executive order to create a task force for establishing a state Department of Housing.

“My philosophy is — you’ve got a crisis? Act like it’s a crisis and have dedicated folks,” he said.

Ferguson also announced that he’d back a bill by state Sen. Emily Alvarado, D-West Seattle, to legalize residential housing in commercial and mixed-use zones.

Alvarado said the bill, if passed, would unlock tens of thousands of parcels of land throughout the state where housing is currently prohibited.

“Think about it, vacant strip malls or big-box stores that are boarded up, or empty parking lots, and now imagine the transformation of those places into homes,” she said. “What a better future for our communities.”