Senator Murray Continues Push for All-Hands-On-Deck Effort to Increase Affordable Housing and Address Crisis In Washington State
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"The housing crisis is hitting everyone. I’m from Washington state, I hear about it all the time. We’ve got a long way to go, a lot of people to help. But to me—the bottom line is more affordable housing.
"In Washington state we face a shortage of almost 172,000 affordable homes, meaning that for every 10 extremely low-income Washington state families, there’s only 3 affordable homes. So I really believe that this is an all-hands-on-deck crisis that requires every level of government to step up and do their part.
"On the Senate Appropriations Committee, I was really proud to help create the Pathways to Removing Obstacles to Housing program—or the Yes-In-My-Back Yard program as we originally referred to it—to help identify and remove barriers to producing and preserving affordable housing. And we were able to provide $100 million for that program in Fiscal Year 2024—even under the very difficult Fiscal Responsibility Act caps.
"That is in addition to other important investments the federal government is making to boost supply—the HOME program, Low-Income Housing Tax Credit. But clearly, the current levels of investment are not sufficient—and not moving quickly enough—to meet, really, the urgency of this crisis.
"So Mr. Williams—let me start with you—what have been some of the most effective federal interventions to address our housing shortage?
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"Very good, thank you very much.
"And Ms. Harris, I’m curious what have you seen in building additional housing over the last decade. You’ve seen a lot, how could the federal government better support the kind of work that the Better Housing Coalition is doing?
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"Thank you very much.
"Mr. Speaker it is an honor to have you here, thank you very much for joining us. I’m curious to ask you because we have heard Donald Trump’s Project 2025 agenda proposes leaving HUD’s responsibilities to states and localities without any federal funding or oversight, and proposes selling off the nation’s public housing stock, which is a critical piece of our country’s affordable housing priorities.
"Here in Congress, we also saw the House Republicans put forward a 2025 budget that would slash HUD funding. So as you’re watching all this from your seat, can you talk a little bit about those kinds of proposals would affect your state’s housing efforts?
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"Thank you very much, I’ve heard the same from my governor and local officials so I really appreciate that.
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