THE REPUBLICAN OBSERVER: Democrat Policies to Make Housing Costs Skyrocket!
EDITOR’S NOTE: The Republican Observer is a Republican precinct committee officer in Washington state and a close observer of events in Olympia. She writes legislative updates for her mailing list, and is generously allowing us to post them here.
Democrat Policies to Make Housing Costs Skyrocket!
Are you feeling the pinch when property tax time comes around? Have you thought about buying a house and looked at the prices lately? The cost of housing is skyrocketing. A lot of that is because of supply and demand, but much of the increase is because of regulation. We have a housing crisis. I often tell people that you need to look at the policy choices made by your elected officials to really understand whether they are supporting values that matter to you.
Several nights ago, the House passed House Bill 1770. You probably didn’t hear a word about it, but you should really pay attention and understand what this bill means to you personally, because it’s going to make housing costs continue to increase tremendously.
The current Democrat majority in both the House and the Senate have energy and environmental regulations at the top of their list of important bills to pass. This one will affect everyone who owns a house or drives a car.
HB 1770 requires new buildings to be net-zero ready. That means they want to get rid of natural gas, and new buildings must include wiring for electrical raceways and designated space for solar equipment and photovoltaic panels. This will force builders to wire new houses for a particular technology without regard for changes in technology. When we built our house in the early 90s, wireless technology wasn’t prevalent, so we hardwired our entire house to be able to handle our computers. Wireless became the technology of choice shortly afterwards, and we never used all that expensive wiring we put into our home. This regulation is similar. It requires homes to have a particular technology, betting that it will be the wave of the future. The difference is when we built our house, it was our choice to add that wiring. This legislation gives you no choice whatsoever.
Another problem with this over regulation is supplies. Already, contractors are having trouble getting supplies in areas where the building code requires specific materials in construction. By regulating so closely, there isn’t a lot of variation in materials that can be used, so when there is a shortage of something in particular, the price goes up and construction is delayed. These new regulations would be very costly to install, making housing costs go up even further.
Right now, a first-time homebuyer is struggling in our state. This regulation will make it even harder for them to be able to afford that first house. We are also struggling with homelessness. We talk incessantly about affordable housing for those who are homeless. But instead of creating an environment that allows for more affordable housing, we make those homes even more expensive. The solution to the problem proposed by Democrats is seen clearly in other bills that the Legislature is considering this year. We are going to raise taxes to house the homeless and provide incentives for first time homebuyers. The end result is that the middle class is priced right out of the market. The wealthy won’t care, and the poor are subsidized by your tax dollars. But the middle class will no longer be able to afford to buy a home in WA State.
Even if you are not planning to purchase another home, your pocketbook will still be hit hard. Every time the housing costs increase, the value of homes in your community goes up. Every time the value of homes around you goes up, so does the value of your home. An increase in the value of your home means yet another increase in your property taxes. If you are struggling with your high property taxes right now, this bill will make your struggles that much greater.
If you want to learn more, here are a couple of places you can go.
If you want to hear more details about the damage this bill would do, please take the time to watch the floor debate.
