SKCR Urges Improved Housing Inventory in King County

Smarter planning is needed in the King County area to improve housing inventory. Concerned that growth planning throughout King County has repressed housing supply through insufficient zoning, SKCR, in collaboration with the Master Builders Association, has called upon the King County to improve the quality of data and the process by which cities determine housing capacity needed to accommodate jobs and population growth.

Housing supply shortfalls in many key cities within King County have lead to bidding wars and have been a source of frustration to real estate brokers and their clients.

SKCR has needed to remind policy makers that due to limited housing supply, too many people who work in King County cannot live near their jobs or even in the County. If King County cannot plan for growth in a manner that is true and relevant to the market, housing will be less accessible to middle-income earners which, in turn, will impose further housing challenges on low-income earners.

Meetings with the County policy makers and city staff members have been productive. Moving forward, we will be working with the county and its 39 cities to better coordinate planning with the goal of changing zoning to enable more housing supply in where there is market demand.