WA Democrats not considering Republican introduced housing bills
By Dan Thesman on Tuesday, February 20th, 2024 in Columbia Basin News More Top Stories
OLYMPIA – The big issue facing the 2024 session of the Washington Legislature is how to address the housing crisis. However, Republican introduced bills are not being considered by the majority party.
Rep. Mark Klicker (R-Walla Walla) said late last week that Republicans have offered both short term and long-term solutions.
House Bill 2453 would create a house gap voucher program, allowing renters to be able to get a voucher to curb the high cost of rent increase until inflation slows down.
Secondly, House Bill 2033 is an incentive program for both the landlords and the renters. Unfortunately, Klicker said Republicans were concerned that bill was being “watered down.”
Then there was Klicker’s House Bill 2008, which was a task force bill that would get down to the root of the problem of housing and housing rentals. According to Klicker, “it did make it out of committee, but not through appropriations and onto the session floor.”
So, the question remains, what’s going to happen to these bills?
“Unfortunately, none of the bills that the Republicans introduced have had any traction,” Klicker said. “In fact, they’re not even being considered. And so, it really is unfortunate.”
The last day of the 2024 session is March 7.
