At its core, Washington’s homelessness crisis stems from a lack of housing people can afford. Even though the state minimum wage is one of the highest in the nation, there is essentially no housing on the private market a Washington minimum-wage earner can afford with a 40-hour work week. An analysis by the U.S. Government Accountability Office found that a $100 median rent increase was associated with a 9% increase in homelessness.
Legislators have introduced dozens of proposed housing bills meant to do everything from increasing density in residential neighborhoods across the state to funding more subsidized affordable housing to limiting how much landlords can raise the rent each year.
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