Washington State legislation to boost housing construction and affordability along with prohibiting large investor entities from acquiring additional single-family homes.
By Aaron Kirk Douglas
Washington’s 2026 legislative session is in full swing with a strong focus on housing as lawmakers introduced a slate of bills to boost housing construction and affordability.
Notably, one proposal (SB 6026) would override local zoning to allow residential development in areas currently limited to commercial use – a big shift to open up more land for apartments or condos.
Other bills would pour new funding into affordable housing (including a $225 million Housing Trust Fund boost championed by Gov. Ferguson) and streamline development rules (for example, easing requirements for mixed-use projects and encouraging innovative building methods).
Private sector push for building housing
This pro-housing agenda has support from the private sector: top Amazon and Microsoft executives penned a Seattle Times op-ed urging lawmakers to cut red tape and “build our way out” of the housing crisis, backing ideas like SB 6026 and quicker permitting processes[.
In other news, Washington’s new law capping rent increases at 5% for manufactured home park tenants is facing pushback. A state landlords’ group filed a lawsuit this week calling the cap unconstitutional and claiming it deprives park owners of fair revenue with no emergency exceptions. The Attorney General is confident the law will be upheld, but the case will be an important test for rent control measures in the state.
Here are the details:
- SB 5496 – Would prohibit large investor entities (those owning >25 single-family homes) from acquiring additional houses, with exceptions for nonprofits or if adding units (to curb bulk home purchases by institutional buyers).
- SB 5647 – Expands the Real Estate Excise Tax exemption for self-help affordable housing programs (e.g. Habitat for Humanity-style projects) to all affordable homeownership facilitators.
- SB 6026 – (Governor-requested) Bars cities/counties >30,000 people from excluding residential development in areas zoned for commercial or mixed-use; also forbids requiring ground-floor commercial space in mixed-use zones as a condition of housing development.
- SB 6027 – Requires at least 60% of local housing & related services sales tax revenues be dedicated to constructing or acquiring affordable housing, behavioral health facilities, or related operations.
- SB 6028 – Creates a state revolving loan fund (via Dept. of Commerce) to finance mixed-income affordable housing developments, with a portion of each project’s units permanently reserved for low-income households.
- SB 6069 – Mandates that cities allow supportive, transitional, and emergency housing (and shelters) in any zoning district inside urban growth areas (except industrial zones), preventing local zoning from blocking these housing types.
About the author:
Aaron Kirk Douglas is a multifaceted storyteller and market analyst. His career spans journalism, creative nonfiction, filmmaking, and real estate research. He serves as Director of Market Intelligence at HFO Investment Real Estate/GREA, the Pacific Northwest’s leading multifamily brokerage.
