Gov. Jay Inslee speaks Friday with Salvador Salazar, the governor's Central Washington liaison, after a Leavenworth roundtable with local leaders about the current shortage of affordable housing. Inslee spoke to local press in a brief Q&A.
Gov. Jay Inslee speaks Friday with Salvador Salazar, the governor's Central Washington liaison, after a Leavenworth roundtable with local leaders about the current shortage of affordable housing. Inslee spoke to local press in a brief Q&A.
LEAVENWORTH — Gov. Jay Inslee visited Leavenworth Friday to meet with local elected officials and nonprofit organizations to discuss the shortage of affordable, workforce housing in the area.
“We have a housing crisis in the state of Washington,” he said at Leavenworth City Hall. “It’s manifested in people living in tarps in our large cities. It’s manifested in our rural communities not having enough housing for working people.”
Inslee spoke with local elected officials and leaders in a roundtable discussion, and then spoke to local press.
Inslee said that the roundtable discussed how in Leavenworth it is “extremely difficult” for people who work in Leavenworth to find housing there and not have to drive to and from work 50 to 60 miles.
The goal, he said, is for a diverse community to make Leavenworth their home and place of work and not just a place for “multi-millionaires from Seattle.”
Inslee also touched on the issue of drug addiction and mental health issues that impact many unhoused people, saying you cannot deal with these challenges if they “don’t have a roof over their heads.”
Inslee proposed in December as a part of the 2023-2025 budget a $4 billion referendum to build thousands of units over the next six years across the state.
“In the last decade, decade and a half, we’ve had over a million people move into the state of Washington or at least increase our population,” he said. “But we’ve only built about 330,000 housing units.”
“We have to build more housing,” Inslee said. “It’s not exactly rocket science, but it needs to be said.” According to Inslee, nonprofits and private contractors would be involved in the process to bring in more “capital.”
The proposed $4 billion come in the form of a bond, which would need to first be approved via a majority vote by Washington voters. But the state legislature first has to agree to put the proposal on the ballot.
“I’m encouraged by (Friday’s) discussion and it’s inspired me to continue our efforts to get the legislature to act,” Inslee said.
Leavenworth Mayor Carl Florea also said he was thankful for the governor acknowledging the housing problem in the state, but it will also take a lot of smaller initiatives to address the housing problem.
Florea said he wants to see the lodging tax dollars generated by places like Leavenworth or Chelan going toward addressing this issue.
“We don’t have a bill right now, but that’s a future discussion that I want to be able to keep going with is allowing us to use the lodging tax,” he said on Friday.
He noted that Leavenworth generates about $3.5 million every year in lodging taxes.
Chelan County levies taxes on lodging businesses, including hotels and short-term rentals, on a yearly basis. A portion of those funds go toward grants and nonprofits to bolster tourism in the areas taxed, many of them in Chelan and Leavenworth.
Chelan County commissioners awarded $328,000 in December 2022 to 22 tourist-related organizations from this grant.
About half the lodging tax dollars generated is allocated to six local chambers like Ohme Gardens, the Cascade Loop and TREAD — a Wenatchee nonprofit advocating for recreation development in Chelan and Douglas counties.
Another portion goes toward operating the Visit Chelan County campaign, according to a Chelan County news release from December.
Discuss the news on NABUR, a place to have local conversations The Neighborhood Alliance for Better Understanding and Respect ✔ A site just for our local community ✔ Focused on facts, not misinformation ✔ Free for everyone
